RICHMOND COUNTY — The Richmond County Daily Journal is launching the DJ Birthday Club to help ensure every child in Richmond County has something special to celebrate on their birthday.
The idea was inspired by a moment familiar to many parents.
“The idea came to me whenever I was planning one of my children’s birthday parties. My son was turning four. It’s something I really look forward to making them feel special,” said Thalia Huntley, general manager of the Richmond County Daily Journal. “I think that some of your strongest core memories growing up is having great birthdays, and as I sat there at the end of the night, stressed about getting everything great and wondering if my son was going to like what I did for his party, I realized how lucky I was and how blessed I was to have those concerns and how hard it is right now for parents and just people in general to make ends meet.”
That realization sparked an idea to help families who may not have the resources to give their children the kind of birthday celebration they envision.
“I thought, what can I do to make sure every child gets to have something special for their birthday. While these times are tough, I always have stuff left over from my children’s parties, and I wanted to find a way to pool everyone’s stuff together and have a free place for the community to come find stuff to decorate their child’s special day.”
As the idea developed, Huntley realized it paired perfectly with another project she had already been considering.
Huntley said she had already planned to create birthday cake boxes using disposable cake tins filled with shelf-stable ingredients needed to make a birthday cake. Combining that idea with the DJ Birthday Club, she said, felt like a perfect match.
“Whether it’s favors, balloons, or things that just don’t get used that we order in large quantities, if the community pulls all together, we could make full sets for people to use,” Huntley said.
Community members who would like to donate party supplies, as well as families interested in receiving birthday supplies, are encouraged to call the Daily Journal office at (910) 997-3111 to arrange a time. Donations will be sorted and organized in a designated room for the DJ Birthday Club, where families can pick out items for their child’s birthday celebration.
The Birthday Club will also give children a keepsake to remember their special day.
“I think the coolest thing is that we also want to put photos of our birthday club members in the newspaper. So after you’ve picked up your supplies, you can take a picture of your kid, and we can make sure to put them in the newspaper to give it an extra special memento to hold onto,” Huntley said.
Huntley hopes the Birthday Club can relieve some of the financial pressure families face while helping create lasting memories for local children.
“I’m really excited to take that burden off of parents because I know as a mom, there’s so much stress to making sure that you feel like you’re fulfilling your kids’ needs, but then the world brings so much stress of making sure the power company gets their money, so I think that parents have it tough because they’re worried about so many things at one time,” Huntley said. “If we can alleviate a small part of that worry, that would bring us lots of joy.”