September 29th - October 5th is Macaroni Kid Acts of Kindness (MKAOK) week. This week is an extension of Macaroni Kid's mission to enrich the communites where we live and work. It is also an opportunity for Macaroni Kid publishers across the country to work together spreading joy through acts of kindness, both big and small. Over the past years, our publishers have raised over $50,000 for local charities, donated more than 35,000 diapers to families in need, encouraged hundreds of kids to sign anti-bullying pledges, cleaned dozens of parks and trails, and delivered more than 3,000 handwritten cards to first responders.
Here in Omaha, Macaroni Kid has chosen to facilitate a Birthday In A Bag service project. This project serves students at Montclair Elementary School who are in need. When I was thinking about what to do and who might benefit from help directly, I thought of the students at the school who are receiving free/reduced lunch as well as are part of their backpack program. The program sends food home with them each Friday. I realized that if these students and their families were in such need, then they probably don't have the ability to afford a small birthday celebration for their child. As a mom who likes to go over the top for my kids' birthdays, this made me so sad. It was then that I realized we could easily remedy the situation and the Birthday In A Bag project was born. Local families were able to "adopt" students from the school. They have been putting together bags with everything needed for a small family celebration. Items like cake mix, sprinkles, candles, decorations, a small gift, and more in a fun gender/age based theme. We have also been lucky to have some local businesses add donations to each student's bag as well. Vic's Popcorn donated a popcorn ball, Raising Cane's donated a kids meal, Piezons donated a pizza per family, and Swimtastic donated family swim passes.
It has been amazing to see how quickly our Macaroni Kid village in Omaha pulled together to support these students. In just a couple days all of the students were adopted. It has also been refreshing to see how eager some of our local businesses were to participate in our project. I am so excited to see what these students think about their bags!
While all the students are spoken for and families will be turning in their Birthday in a Bag this Wednesday, I am already excited for next year. If your family or business is interested in partnering with us next year, please let us know!
