It was our first Birthday HUG Club event and it was being held at The Garden, a homeless shelter for women and children in Smyrna. We arrived to find about 15 children waiting for us, of which four who had birthdays in November and December were being honored.

The event was a simple event, but extraordinarily fun for adults and children alike. The children were divided by size and each group took turns playing Twister and Simon Says. With one group of kids crawling all over each other playing Twister at the same time the other group was dancing around playing Simon Says, it was a wild time at The Garden!

Dewaye and Ebuni were great at leading the kids in their activities. Faith, Shelly and Reanna assisted with serving the birthday cake and ice cream while Doc and Ronnie managed the gift table.

As the children sat down for the cake and ice cream, Dewaye told them about the birth of Jesus in a way they could easily understand, asking the children questions as he went along with the story. They then sung Happy Birthday to the birthday children.

Each child received a small gift of their own selection form the gift table, with the birthday children being given first choice. All of the gifts were dollar store/party store items. But, to these kids the cost did not matter. The most popular toys were actually the least expensive; those which promoted group play.

It was interesting to see the relationships which developed between the children and adults. Some children quickly became attached to individual adults, spending almost the entire event in their arms or hanging on to their pants leg. 

In the end, the Birthday HUG Club is a great experience for all involved. The children had a couple of hours of quality fun while the adults got their hearts warmed by the joy of the children. If you want your day to be brightened, the Birthday HUG Club is for you!

Volunteers participating in the preparation and/or execution of this event includes:

Ebuni McFall-Roberts (Captain)	Shelly Burns	Ronnie Driver
Duane Roberts (Captain)	Reanna Burns
Faith _______________	Doc Casper
Note: If we inadvertently left your name off this list, we apologize. Please bring it to our attention.