A different kind of birthday party! Richard Orellana

A note from Richard...

Friends,

As most of you know over the past several years I’ve dedicated more of my life towards volunteerism & serving our community.  Giving back to others that are less fortunate is something that I truly believe in & passionate about especially those that in many cases don’t have a “voice”.  Well this year I decided to celebrate my birthday in a special & meaningful way similar to what we did a couple of years ago.

 

Basically I decided on having a NON-PROFIT BDAY PARTY (NO GIFTS) to celebrate it but also in a way that allows us to give back to our community.  The idea is to raffle off items and everyone would receive tickets but of course the more you donate the more tickets you get and more chances you have to win.  The cost will be $5 per ticket.  In 2012, we had approximately 150 people attend and raised just under $5,000 for a non-profit that serves Human Trafficking Victims. This year I have selected Child Advocates to benefit from this event.

 

CHILD ADVOCATES

100% of the amount raised will go towards Child Advocates which is the Non-Profit that I’ve selected.  CHILD ADVOCATES serves abused children who have experienced life-threatening abuse or neglect that they had to be removed from their homes & placed in foster care.    Child Advocates trains everyday people to advocate for the best interests of these children & break the vicious cycle of child abuse. As most of you know over the past several years I’ve dedicated more of my life towards volunteerism & serving our community.  Giving back to others that are less fortunate is something that I truly believe in and passionate about especially those that in many cases don’t have a “voice”.  Well this year I decided to celebrate my birthday in a special & meaningful way similar to what we did a couple of years ago.

 

Why Child Advocates?  I first got involved with Child Advocates since I know someone that was abused as a child and I have seen the impact even many years after the abuse. I decided to volunteer for Child Advocates and became a court appointed advocate to make a difference. It was one of my most rewarding volunteer experiences in my life & without going into the specifics of the case that I worked on one of the greatest days in my life was being invited to accompany the guardian and the 4-year-old child to their 1^st day of school. As we dropped off the child and walked away the child began to cry profusely but then when the guardian and I peeked inside the room a short while later, the child stopped crying and began to adapt to his new class. It was at that point that I began to shed a few tears because I knew this child was finally going to receive the help he needed which was a lot given all that he had been through. There were so many obstacles that we overcame in getting this child enrolled into school and there’s no doubt in my mind that Child Advocates made a big difference in the lives of these children as both would have easily fallen through the cracks without Child Advocates being there.    

It currently costs Child Advocates $1800 to serve on child for one year or roughly $5 for one day.
Every dollar donated to Child Advocates is greatly appreciated.

For every $5 donated, you will receive one raffle ticket. Please contact Richard for the details of the prizes. Need not be present to win.