Meet Shelly Calvert | Founder/director of We Love Birthday Parties

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shelly Calvert and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shelly, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Our nonprofit was started by a group of teens who wanted to make an impact on their community. They heard about a church that celebrated a nine-year-old boy who had never had a birthday party before. The teens wanted to make sure no child in our community felt unseen or left out on their birthday, so we began exploring how to reach children in need.
“It took a while to figure out how to actually make an impact with our birthday parties because none of us, including me, realized that we live in this bubble…we actually had no idea what kids in poverty were experiencing in our community,” said We Love Birthday Parties founder/director Shelly Calvert. “We finally figured out that we needed to partner with community centers, shelters and churches who were serving kids at or below poverty level.”

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
What sets our nonprofit apart is that we’re the only one in our region providing the service we do: bringing birthday parties for kids who otherwise may go unnoticed and providing birthday boxes to kids experiencing foster care or kids who are caught up in the court system. While we have a great number of agencies providing basic needs in our region, we are the only one making sure kids are celebrated on their birthday. We let them know they matter, they were born for a reason, our world needs their unique personality and they are truly valued. We help kids who feel unseen to know they are seen….and loved!

We are most proud of the fact that we are bringing a day of joy, hope and happiness to kids who are experiencing sadness and hardship beyond what most people know. Each month we pack everything needed for a birthday party—healthy snacks (this is so needed!), games, crafts, decor and cupcakes or donuts—and we take the party to the locations who are serving kids at or below poverty. We celebrate the kids who have a birthday party in that month. The birthday kids get to pick a special present from the present table (value $15-25) and each child goes home with a treat bag.

Now that we’re in our 10th year of helping kids, our business model has evolved and we are finding ourselves becoming more self-sustaining and our processes streamlined. It hasn’t been an easy journey. We first had to learn the realities of the population we are serving—children experiencing poverty, neglect, abuse and worse— are often not easy to identify. Through no fault of their own, very young children to preteens and teens are experiencing the negative consequences of their parent(s) choices. We learned that we had to partner with people equipped to help these kids, such as CASA/GAL, community centers, counselors and foster care support agencies. In our own community, children have gone missing, are used for sex to gain drugs, are handling adult responsibilities at home, are abused for just being alive and many are neglected because both parents have to work just to keep the lights on and paying for childcare—if they can find it—isn’t an option. From the opioid crisis to the pandemic to social media adversely affecting children of all ages, our kids near or below poverty are struggling, so much so that there is a widely reported mental health crisis among our youth.
So while we are bringing the simple joy of a birthday party to kids in need, we are acutely aware of the struggles and hardships these kids are experiencing. We learned that our work in bringing positive affirmations and a day of fun to these kids is more important and impactful than we ever imagined. We exist to bring hope and happiness to kids who truly just need to be kids.

Two years ago we purchased a brick and mortar space in Troy. We needed office space and room to store our donations, as well as much need work space to create birthday boxes and plan fundraisers. The building we purchased fit all of our needs PLUS it has four large spaces that we envisioned as rentable kid-friendly party space that we could offer the community. We renovated those spaces with huge help from our community and we now have the most beautiful and family-friendly space to offer. To rent our space, it’s a donation of $75 per hour to We Love Birthday Parties, creating a donation stream for our nonprofit. Our building is called North Elm Collective and it has become a favorite spot for birthday parties, family reunions, baby and bridal showers, corporate events, and it’s even home to a yoga and wellness studio.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We might be a little bit biased, but we think downtown Troy is a destination spot! With all of the unique shops, fabulous restaurants, gorgeous flowers and fountain in the middle of the square, concerts, speakeasies, parks, bike trails, riverscapes and walkability, it would be hard for someone NOT to find something to love! Our surrounding towns of Tipp City, Piqua, Covington and West Milton all have small town pride with lots to do as well! Accommodations, whether someone prefers a hotel or an Air BnB, are plentiful. Miami County is welcoming and easy to navigate.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We couldn’t reach kids in need without the partnerships, collaborations and support of donors! We partner with some pretty special places in Miami and Montgomery counties: Lincoln Community Center, Troy Rec, Clubhouse, Reading for Change, Dream Center, K.I.N.D (Kids In New Directions), Seed of Hope OH and CASA/GAL of Miami County.

We have been supported from the beginning by The Troy Foundation, Miami County Foundation and the Robinson Fund, as well as the Tipp City Foundation, Piqua Community Foundation and United Way. We also have a long list of corporate donors and private individuals who realize the importance of our mission and provide financial support.

Partners In Hope, a nonprofit that supports families in need, helps us by donating toys left over from their Christmas program (which we get into the hands of kids in our community the other 11 months of the year), and Little Kindness nonprofit makes treat bags for all of the kids we serve each month.

We have several churches that come alongside us in a big way! Victory Church, The Valley Troy, Cove Spring Church, East Zion, Troy Presbyterian Church and Troy United Methodist Church.

And lets not forget to shout out all the Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops who have donated, as well as, American Heritage Girls!

Families from our community also model kindness and charity by encouraging their children, who have more than enough, to give back by asking their friends for donations to We Love Birthday Parties in lieu of birthday gifts!

Website: welovebirthdayparties.org and northelmcollective.com

Instagram: @We Love Birthday Parties

Facebook: @We Love Birthday Parties