Schinnell Leake, founder and CEO of Extra-Ordinary Birthdays has made it her life mission to ensure child victims of homelessness are still able to celebrate and enjoy their special day every year.
What was the inspiration behind you launching Extra-Ordinary Birthdays? How long have you been established?
My Mom was a major inspiration to me. She was a celebrator of life and it showed up with her presence and acknowledgement of special moments and birthdays for family as well friends. She took tremendous joy in acknowledging each person’s uniqueness with gifts that spoke to them and lifted them a bit higher as her way of saying, “I see you and you matter.” It is that foundation of celebrating life and recognizing each individual that my personal growth as a citizen of this world was ignited. It was the “extra special feeling” that I felt a birthday party brought to the ordinary moments in the life of a child that then led me to establish Extra-Ordinary Birthdays in 2010. After learning that more than 2,000 children live in homeless shelters throughout the Washington, D.C. area I wanted to create an experience where the birthday child gets the honest impression that they’re precious and valued. After over 10 years, a homeless child’s birthday provided by Extra-Ordinary Birthdays continues to be a great opportunity to get close and to fuel their self-esteem.
The way homelessness impacts children is often overlooked. In what ways do you hope to raise awareness?
Homelessness devastates children, leading to emotional and physical problems. Compared to children with homes, homeless children are easily distressed. Because the impact homelessness has on children is often overlooked is why Extra-Ordinary Birthdays exist. Although the crisis in family homelessness continues to grow, the birthday celebrations that EOB provides gives homeless children and their families a moment of normalcy despite their circumstances and shelter settings. Every child, especially those living without many of the necessities we take for granted, deserves to know that their birthday is special, they are important, and that their growth matters. We hope that by showing how customized birthday celebrations has a positive impact in the lives of children experiencing homelessness, we create a community that recognizes the transformative power of birthday celebrations and educate them on homelessness in the process.
Are your services available nationwide?
Right now, Extra-Ordinary Birthdays serves families living in homeless shelters in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. We are the only organization in the region that provides personalized birthday parties for each child that we celebrate. With the amount of care that goes into each individualized birthday celebration, we have a lot of work on our hands, and we do it with a small, talented, and dedicated local team.
What would you say is the biggest cause of homelessness in America?
Many different factors can cause homelessness and everyone’s story is different. Maybe someone lost their job and experienced financial ruin as a result. Maybe the spouse who carried a family financially passed away. Maybe a mom and her children needed to escape a domestic violence situation and a homeless shelter was their only hope. Divorce, family disputes, mental illness – there are so many things that can contribute to homelessness in America.
Do you feel the government should do more to help prevent displacement?
Something many don’t realize is that there are people in this country with full time jobs that are still homeless. This is a problem, not only in the DC area, but around the country. If you work full time without earning a living wage, many times you have to make tough choices between feeding your children or keeping a roof over your head. The government can make a difference by normalizing the minimum wage so that anyone working a full time job earns a living wage. As technology has increased exponentially American productivity has also increased exponentially. However, wage growth has remained flat despite the increase in productivity. If minimum wage was a living wage it would go a long way to combating homelessness, not only in the DMV area but around the entire country.
You have made a thousand kids happy despite their circumstances. What are your plans for the future?
We will continue to provide birthday celebrations that are curated exclusively for each child, making them feel valued and reinforcing their sense of self-worth, self-esteem, and importance. We will continue to provide the opportunity for homeless families to engage in something “normal” during challenging times. We will continue to do “birthdays in a bin” at least through 2021 as we finally get a hold of this pandemic, and hopefully begin in-person parties again soon. We really miss engaging with the families and seeing the children’s’ smiles first-hand but are grateful for the pictures and videos provided by the parents and shelters. We will also be doing even more to recognize and honor the parents of children experiencing homelessness and to serve unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness. Stay tuned!
How can our readers find out more about Extraordinary Birthdays?
For more information about Extra-Ordinary Birthdays, readers can visit our website at www.extraordinarybirthdays.org and follow us on social media.
