Skyline students make birthdays brighter for young kids in need

Sixteen years ago in a small town in Minnesota, Robin Maynard Steele and her husband Kevin were looking for a way to help their local food and clothing bank. There they met a mother who had come in to see if there was something she could give to her young son for his birthday. Without enough money to buy something herself, the food bank was the last hope that her boy would have something, anything, on his birthday. But the birthday shelf was barren. That night, Steele went home and packed 12 birthday bags, and filled them with whatever toys she could lay her hands on. The next day she delivered them to Trinity Mission. Cheerful Givers was born. Sixteen years later, and Cheerful Givers has put together more than 100,000 birthday bags, touching the lives of young children and families across America. The idea spread to Washington in 2005. Here, local high school students stage bag filling events. At the heart of the Washington Cheerful Givers movement is the Skyline High School Key Club. Earlier this month, Skyline students continued their support of Cheerful Givers, filling bags with toys at the Sammamish Library. Thanks to donations from local businesses, and the school's own fundraising, more than 30 students were able to make 50 birthday bags for low income families, the third year in a row Skyline has contributed to this fantastic cause. Not content with their successes, the Skyline Key Clubbers are planning on reaching out to their peers at Eastlake High School to stage a bigger event in the near future.

Contact Sammamish Reporter Editor Jake Lynch at editor@sammamish-reporter.com.

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