Let them eat birthday cake

For most children, their birthday is the most exciting day of the year.

Most parents are familiar with the anticipation, the preparation, and the look on their children's faces when they hear the first knock on the door heralding another birthday party, and a mountain of gifts.

Yet, thousands of underprivileged children in Israel have never had a birthday party.

Many are not even aware of their date of birth because it has never been formally celebrated, until now.

Thanks to Ruthie Sobel Luttenberg and her Birthday Angels project, 1,000 children in Israel, ranging in age from 8-13, have celebrated their birthday for the first time.

In March, 2004, Luttenberg founded the project which gives university student volunteers who mentor disadvantaged children everything necessary to throw an unforgettable birthday party for the kids they assist.

The Birthday Angels project works in collaboration with the Perach tutorial program, founded by the Weizmann Institute.Birthday Angels provides complete party kits to the volunteers, an effort for which Luttenberg, a professional birthday party planner with a degree in social work, is uniquely qualified.

The 'birthday revolution'

In the 90s, she founded a company called Rich Rach to take advantage of the 'birthday revolution' emerging in Israel's then-booming economy.

Suddenly, Israelis were hosting elaborate parties for their children featuring professional entertainment. Luttenberg decided to use her social work background to create 'significant' parties which were fun and educational.

According to Luttenberg, children's birthdays are more than an excuse to party, they are milestones which highlight a child's maturation, and the stuff of sweet, lifelong memories. Parents anxious to provide such memories signed up for her services in droves.

But Luttenberg, who immigrated to Israel from New Jersey in 1973, was tired of servicing only the rich and the comfortable. My roots are in social work, and I thought that I could use some of the knowledge that I've gained to help children who really need it.

She used her knowledge to design the Birthday Angels party kits, aimed at enhancing a child's self-esteem. These children - who are often marginal members of their class because they are new immigrants or are too poor to afford fashionable clothes or school supplies - become king or queen for the day.

Disadvantaged families are given an opportunity to celebrate with their child, and, according to Luttenberg, the kits send "a clear message of equality, social responsibility, personal involvement, practical giving, and concern for these children."

With kits in hand, Luttenberg began to ponder the question of who would give the parties. She turned to the Perach program, run by the Weizmann Institute of Science in universities throughout the country, because Perach mobilizes the largest number of student volunteers in the country, 30,000.

The Perach program pairs up children in need of tutoring with students in need of tuition assistance. Perach, like Birthday Angels, serves every segment of Israeli society, religious and secular Jews, Christian and Muslim Arabs, Bedouin, and Druse.

The party kits are paid for by donors called Birthday Angels - who give $36 or NIS 120 for each complete kit. In addition to the kits, Luttenberg offers Perach volunteers training in organizing the parties. She has discovered that the student volunteers, who have already forged close bonds with a disadvantaged child and his or her family, welcome the opportunity to provide their kids with something extra.

Five thousand Perach volunteers have already registered to receive kits for the children that they mentor. Kits include games, bingo dancing, where children can win the privilege of dancing with the birthday child, a wishing tree, and a thank-you card. After the party, the birthday child and his Perach volunteer send the Birthday Angel a thank-you card and pictures of the party.

In December, 2004, the Birthday Angels project was awarded the coveted Menachem Begin Award 'for service to Israeli Society.'

Luttenberg is leaving for the U.S. soon on a fund-raising trip, in an effort to provide about 4,000 party-kits for children who have registered but have yet to find their Birthday Angel. Potential Birthday Angels may find the information that they need to donate a party kit on the Birthday Angel website at www.birthday-angels.org .