WELCOME
On behalf of the Directors, we would like to welcome you to the April issue of your Newsletter, M.E.F. April is the start of Spring with Winter disappearing and the freshness of Spring holding the promise of warmer months ahead for all of us. Appropriate as our message of delivering more and more birthday happiness is reaching even more people and organisations. Marilou, our Co-Founders’ desire to reach as many less fortunate children with birthday happiness is resonating even more and soon we will be in the Summer of our development. This would never be possible without the wonderful support of you, our Good Friend and Supporter. Thank you very much.
JOYOUS PARTIES IN MARCH 2024
Our first joyous party was in Home Care for Girls and it was momentous because for the first
time the Social Worker, Agnes has allowed a man to be the Team Leader. She also permitted ‘mature’ males to join and Sudeep was pleased to join as our first ever male Volunteer in the Home. He was joined by an ‘old hand’, Sujomi and three new Volunteers from Heep Hong School, Laura, Kayla and Samantha. The other new Volunteer was Laura Eggermont, a trained Psychiatrists from Holland and now working as a Life Coach in Hong Kong. There were 3 Celebrants, 2 were 17 years old and the youngest was only 13. There were the usual games like Pass the Ball and Musical Chairs. There was also Limbo Dancing and a new game – the Hokey Pokey. Both games brought a great deal of laughter, especially as nobody had heard of the Hokey Pokey but once everyone got the catchy tune into their heads, everyone went for it with gusto. All the Participants want that game included in future joyous parties. The 3 Celebrants made a wish, blew out the candles and cut the yummy pink “girlie” cake that Radhika created. One of the Celebrants liked it so much that she had three plates of cake in front of her, and she finished them all! The oldest Celebrants got Hands On Gift Pack and an Everlasting Magic toiletries set kindly donated by Ms. Marina Grbesa. The biggest gasp came from the youngest Celebrant who got a stuffed Giraffe donated by Ms. Nicole Froelich. She loved it and was riding it and sometimes allowing her Guests to sit at the back. A landmark joyous party made memorable by a wonderfully dedicated Social Worker, great Volunteers, a truly yummy creation and Volunteers who donated awesome gifts. A joyous party that will last a lifetime, especially for the Celebrants.
Our second joyous party was at a new Partnering Organisation, The Fu Hong Society in their
Centre on the Tin Chak Estate in Tin Shui Wai. The Society helps children with mental
disabilities and autism, some severe. Our Volunteers included Jenny, Staci and Kyna who are colleagues in the design field. Sujomi and Sudeep have helped us many times delivering
birthday happiness in the past. We were also joined by siblings Jaydon and Mark who attend
Discovery College and they have formed a new Group within the College - Hong Kong Teens
for Change. There were suitable games like ‘Wheels on the Bus, Pass the Ball, the Freeze
Dance Song and Simon Says. The children liked the Freeze Dance Song the most. When a
Participant won a game, they received a wrapped gift donated by Members of the United
Services Recreation Club during their Donation Drive in February. At the end of the games,
each Participant was given a small gift again donated by the Club. The Celebrants and their
Guests loved the yummy carrot and chocolate cake made with love and affection by Neetu.
Each Celebrant received two wrapped gifts donated by the USRC. Then we got to the part of
the joyous party that many of the Celebrants wanted – the yummy cakes. Unfortunately, some saw the cakes beforehand and wanted to eat cake, first. The joyous party concluded with each Celebrant getting 2 wrapped gifts donated by USRC Members. The Registered Social Worker, Ms. Lo Yin-fan, Cindy came in towards the end of the joyous party and all she saw were very happy children with broad smiles. As a Centre, they will see when we can next come back and introduce us to the other 2 Centres in the Society. A very happy party thanks to many Social Workers, beautiful donations and wonderful Volunteers.
DONATION FROM THE UNITED SERVICES RECREATIONAL CLUB
As you know as an organisation we are dependent on the kindness of people and
organisations who donate their free time to deliver birthday happiness to hundreds of less
fortunate children and we also receive donations of gifts that can be used as birthday gifts and prizes. Ms. Viveka Mansukhani organised between 6th to 20th February a Drive amongst Members of the United Services Recreations Club (https://www.usrc.org.hk/) of toys, biscuits and sweets to be used as birthday gifts and prizes. Each Gift was individually wrapped. The Club than arranged for the donation of 7 large bags to be delivered to us. On behalf of the Directors and everyone associated with Birthday Happiness Asia we would like to thank Ms. Mansukhani and Club Members for their efforts and very generous donations. Hundreds of children will be filled with birthday happiness and will not know who to thank. On behalf of them, we would like to say a big thank you very much.
DONATION FROM NICOLE FROELICH
This month we have been blessed with two large and outstanding donations. Our second large donation was from Ms. Nicole Froelich. Nicole runs a wedding planning company, Nicole Please (https://www.nicoleplease.com/). As a company, they had a number of stuffed animals, Prosecco Wall, Donut Wall and Guestbook frame. The stuffed animals were kindly donated to us to be used as memorable birthday gifts and the larger animals to be donated to the Partnering Organisations to be used in their Centres and enjoyed by all the less fortunate children who visit the Centres. The toys were kindly delivered to us by Mr. Mike Tinworth who did not charge us anything. The first time we used the smaller stuffed animals was at the joyous party in Home Care for Girls who nominated a 13 years old Celebrant who will treasure it forever. The large stuffed animals will give years of pleasure to the less fortunate children who visit the Centres who visit.
Maninder Preet taking delivery of a tiger.
DONATION FROM MS. MARINA GRBSA
In March, we have received so many good wishes and donations from our wonderful
Volunteers. Marina is a new Volunteer who found us on the Tung Chung Mums
Facebook page. Marina has never been to a joyous party as she has to look after 2
young children but she likes our message that everyone deserves to celebrate their
special day. Although she can’t attend joyous parties as a Volunteer, Marina felt she
could support us by spreading our message throughout her network and donating gifts.
She donated an AHAVA Hands On Gift Pack and an Everlasting Magic toiletries set.
Both are suitable for older female Celebrants that we gave to the 2 older Celebrants
in Home Care for Girls.
VOLUNTEERS TESTIMONIALS
Below are the reflections of Mr. Jaydon Koung, a pupil at Discovery College. Jaydon has
attended a number of joyous parties since joining our family in January and delivering birthday happiness in his own inimitable style.
“Joining this experience, working with other volunteers, and most importantly, bringing joy to
these children, proved to be an extremely large eye-opening experience. It showed me how a little action like hosting birthday parties could make such a big impact on these kids. This is
why I truly enjoy doing these birthday parties and bring joy to these wonderful kids.”