West Palm Beach, FL : As the exclusive nonprofit support of the Palm Beach County Guardian ad Litem volunteer child advocate program, Speak Up for Kids has seen its fair share of abuse and neglect cases involving child victims. For over a decade, their work has ensured security, permanence, and normalcy for foster children, which has yielded thousands of stories from children documenting first-hand how alone and forgotten they often feel, especially when milestones, including birthdays, come and go without celebration or fanfare.
In 2017, the Speak Up for Kids Board of Directors introduced the Gift-A-Birthday program to honor local children involved in dependency cases. “Conversations around child victimization, dependency proceedings, and foster care are nebulous and overwhelming for most people,” says Coleen Lacosta, Speak Up for Kids Executive Director. “Leaving those who want to help to feel as if the problem is just too big. Gift-A-Birthday presents an opportunity for anyone to get involved and effect change.” A $25 donation allows Speak Up for Kids to provide a child a card, cake, and small gift to forward normalcy and a measure of remembrance and acknowledgment.
“It is the small things, the milestones we each celebrate, that fall through the cracks for these children. We will not allow that to continue,” says Celeste Jackson, Chair for Gift-A-Birthday. “We intend to raise enough funds to ensure all 1,600 children in our care have a birthday celebration.”
On April 8, 2021, from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM, the public is invited to celebrate a birthday party of epic proportions hosted by Speak Up for Kids at The Pavilion – 101 S. Flagler Drive West. Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now. “We expect a sold-out event, so the earlier you purchase, the better,” says Jackson.
Although Speak Up for Kids accepts birthday sponsorship year-round, this focused Gift-A-Birthday event allows all of Palm Beach County to stand together and in unison say to victimized children, “We celebrate you!”
