In March, YWCA Dayton held a fun outing at Get Air, a trampoline and bouncy house park as part of our Birthday Buddies program. We had eight kids from our shelter attend and participate in fun activities that gave them great bonding time while staying in our shelters.

At Get Air, kids spent two hours jumping and bouncing around, jumping as high as possible! The youth also got to enjoy pizza, ice cream, and got goodie bags to bring back to the shelter with them.

At YWCA Dayton, we serve around 30 children in our shelters every month. Our children’s programming team works hard to provide fun activities for kids, especially celebrating events like birthdays. Additionally, we hold monthly birthday parties for our shelter children to celebrate with cake, gifts, and games.

For children spending time in our shelters, this programming is crucial to support their social development, mental health, and physical health. Having to enter a shelter at a young age is an incredibly difficult event to experience in life, and we do our best to make sure kids feel comfortable during their stays with us.

This is best put by our Manager of Children’s Programming, Asiaonna Eley: “This event, as all Birthday Buddies, was incredibly impactful because it allows the children to have a sense of normalcy while they are in the shelter. They can have a party, receive gifts, and feel valued, and like their life has a purpose.”

YWCA Dayton cannot put on events like this without the support of corporate and individual donors, such as Wright-Patt Credit Union Huber Heights who sponsored all our decoration boxes for all of 2024. Additionally, we’d like to thank Get Air Huber Heights for being amazing hosts, and the Altrusa Club of Dayton for making this field trip possible.

Want to make an impact on kids and women in our shelter? Click here to learn more about volunteering and here to learn more about donating and contributing to our mission.

Our Birthday Buddies event at Get Air was an amazing time for eight of the kids currently staying in our shelter. They got to enjoy bouncing around on trampolines, pizza, ice cream, and goodie bags.

Special thanks to Get Air for hosting us, Wright-Patt Credit Union’s Huber Heights branch for sponsoring all of our decoration boxes for 2024, and Altrusa Club of Dayton for making the trip possible.