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Plano play facility partners with non-profit to provide birthday parties to children in need
By Kim Nguyen, Staff Writer
More than three dozen children overran the Plano location of BounceU Monday evening, but facility coordinators did not interfere.
“After coming into the room, a huge smile spread across his face,” said Lewisville mom Nanci Hicks about her son. “I’ve never seen him smile that big before.”
Five-year-old Colby Hicks has been in and out of the hospital struggling with complications from Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections for the better part of four years. MRSA is a strain of “staph” that is resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it, and in some cases can be fatal.
Amidst all the financial strains, Hicks said that providing a birthday party for Colby was far from her mind until she saw a segment on “Good Morning America” in March featuring McKinney-based Birthday Blessings.
“I saw that they were doing something amazing for these kids with parents in similar situations as me,” Hicks said. “I wanted to do something special for Colby for his birthday especially because he had recently gotten out of the hospital, but I simply couldn’t afford it.”
The family had originally planned to host a small hotdog cook-out for Colby’s birthday, but had a hard time explaining the plans to their son.
“He didn’t understand it at first because last year we had thrown him a big party,” Hicks said. “Try explaining that to a 5-year-old.”
Plano’s BounceU has partnered with Birthday Blessings, a non-profit organization that sponsors birthday parties for children of families in need, to provide a free birthday party for four area children.
“It’s the right thing to do, I’m not looking for a pat on the back of anything,” said Rochelle Carlton, BounceU facility owner. “I’m doing this for the kids and the community.”
In March, Carlton, who had also seen the “Good Morning America” segment on Birthday Blessings, was inspired with the story that co-founders Patricia Morris and Kris Snellgrove helped underprivileged children and wanted to find a way to get involved.
“They’re right in my backyard in McKinney and I wanted to help too,” Carlton said. “BounceU has done some facility donations for a few CITY House fundraising events before, but nothing to this extent.”
Carlton said that BounceU has suffered slightly from the souring economy as people tighten the belt on excess spending -- birthday parties at BounceU can cost in excess of $400 for two hours to cover the costs of inflating the play areas and wages of facility employees -- but is always looking for ways to accommodate special cases.
Monday’s quadruple birthday party was a special case.
Garland mom Kasey Tran said that tears came to her eyes when she received a call saying that her son was selected for a birthday blessing.
“Jason has never had a party before because I couldn’t afford it,” she said. “I’m always working to buy food and clothes and pay bills, so I don’t have the opportunity to do something special like this for them.”
Throughout the previous week, Tran, a single mom for three active boys, said that her sons could not stop talking the upcoming party.
“He was very excited about all week; it’s his first birthday party so he didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “He did everything I asked him to do because he was so excited.”
Tran said that she hopes the birthday event will help 12-year-old Jason will learn the importance of giving back to the community.
“As soon as I get another job, I want to help,” she said. “I promise I will get involved.”
Amber Jackson, a stay-at-home mom of two, was volunteered to Birthday Blessings by her friend. Jackson and her husband had recently divorced, so she has been job hunting, but finding it increasingly harder to take care of her two young children.
“We had been planning a very small get together to celebrate her birthday,” the Allen mom said. “But it’s rough with these financial times.”
Jackson’s daughter, 2-year-old Rylee, was a tumbling ball of energy as she ran through the BounceU inflatable play houses.
“She’s having a blast; it’s outstanding how happy she is now,” Jackson said.
As Hicks, Tran and Jackson get back on their feet, they hope that their children will learn from this special birthday event.
“Colby is only five, so I’m unsure of his true comprehension of how the party came about,” Hicks said. “But I’ll constantly remind him and build on it.”
Hicks has raised three foster children and three step-children and thinks that Colby’s Birthday Blessing is a kind of spiritual reminder to continue giving, even in times of financial stress.
“This blessing that Colby received is God’s way of giving back to us after all the blessings we gave,” she said. “God brought us together for this to remind us to keep giving.”
Carlton said BounceU has hosted parties for a wide range of ages, from 1 to 45, in the past, but has not felt the same sense of accomplishment and community-mindedness as she did Monday evening.
“It seems like something small, you know, it’s just a birthday party,” Carlton said. “But it means so much for the kids because their parents are going through some tough financial times and wouldn’t have had a party otherwise.”
Carlton said she is looking forward to building on this partnership with Birthday Blessings to donate the facility for group birthday parties at least once a month.
Birthday Blessings was granted non-profit status in February and hosted the first birthday party in March. Volunteers operate on a $50 budget per child and ask for donations of food, cake and presents.
So far, Birthday Blessings has helped celebrate the birthdays of 14 children and Morris and Snellgrove are surprised that Birthday Blessings has grown to be so successful so soon.
“After the ‘Good Morning America’ segment aired, we received 125 calls,” Morris said. “And about 10 percent of those calls were volunteer inquiries -- people asking how they could help. I could not believe it.”
Snellgrove said that Birthday Blessings began as an outreach ministry program to help build meaningful relationships with underprivileged families.
“We want to offer spiritual support and give them a shoulder to lean on to help them get through the rough times,” she said.
Birthday Blessing was formed as an all-volunteer, non-profit charitable organization that sponsors birthday parties and gifts for children of families in need with the hope of making them feel loved and important on their special day. Information on Birthday Blessings is available online at www.birthdayblessingtx.com.
BounceU is an indoor, climate-controlled stadium filled with giant inflatable play structures, accompanied by additional play equipment and video arcade games. BounceU coordinates, sets up, supervises, facilitates and cleans up, so that the hosting parents can relax and enjoy the event. BounceU was created specifically to provide children a fun, unique place to celebrate a birthday, or any special event, and at the same time provide the privacy, cleanliness, and security desired by parents. Information on BounceU can be found online at www.bounceu.com.
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