In its sixth year, the organization held between eight and 10 birthday parties a month this year, along with providing about 20 birthday boxes with the makings for a birthday party to foster care families and families with children in the court system.
During that time, Calvert has been working on plans for a building that We Love Birthday Parties can call home. The plan also calls for the group to lease the space to others for birthdays and other gatherings, such as anniversaries or community gatherings. The organization’s supplies, including birthday gifts donated for children, are in a rented space in a downtown Troy building.
Calvert made her plans public recently via emails and a mailing seeking donations to help purchase a building.
She had her eye on a vacant building at South Market and Canal streets, but that building sold this week, so she is looking at other options.
“We are growing, and as we grow we need office space, storage space, a place to hold board meetings, volunteer training and our own events,” Calvert said. “It just seemed smart to me to meet a need, use the money that comes in from that space to fund our own organization.”
The initial stated goal was to raise $300,000 from a variety of sources from individual donors to foundations. More than $10,000 has been raised so far.
Calvert emphasized that she wants to meet a need, not compete. “I don’t want to get into retail or get into competition with anything going on in our town,” she said.
“The place also could be where we can hold periodic community gatherings that will allow us to reach kids we currently aren’t reaching with our birthday parties. Then, we could also just hold fun events, she said.
The birthday parties now are held in locations such as Troy’s Lincoln Community Center and the downtown Troy Rec.
In addition to the building capital campaign, Calvert has been working on expanding We Love Birthday Parties into Montgomery County. A location has been established at the Life Enrichment Center in Dayton.
For more information, contact Calvert at shelly@welovebirthdayparties.org or visit www.welovebirthdayparties.org.
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