A global pandemic that’s forcing everyone to stay home and physically distance from others is making birthday celebrations fairly difficult.
However, there’s a group of volunteers in Prince George who are going out of their way to make sure kids' birthdays around the city still feels special.
The COVID-19 Volunteers For All Facebook group has started organizing parades to drive by and celebrate those who are stuck-inside on their special day.
“I have some friends in the Kelowna area and had seen on Castanet they were doing birthday parades and I thought gee that would be kind of cool and just boom away we went,” explains Rhonda Gail, a COVID-19 volunteer, who first started organizing the parades.
“The people who are showing up don’t even know the people celebrating the birthday – it’s just an overwhelming response from strangers helping strangers.”
She says people show up with their vehicles decorated with signs, streamers, sparklers and birthday banners.
“When we did my friends’ son's birthday, one of the ladies who participated actually hooked up an amplifier on the back of her truck. I asked my friend in advance what his favourite song was and she played it for him,” says Gail.
"After he had the birthday parade he was just bouncing off the walls and was so happy and excited and actually felt like he had a birthday."
Gail says she’s received a lot of feedback from parents whose kids are bummed out because they can’t go back to school and see their friends or have birthday parties.
The volunteers are also organizing the birthday parades around the 7 p.m. shout-out to healthcare workers at UHNBC.
Yesterday (April 1), the parade celebrated the birthday of a 10-year-old girl, attended the hospital shout-out, then celebrated the birthday of a 16-year-old boy.
"We are trying to space them out enough so we can participate in a couple," says Gail, adding they’ve created a new Facebook page called COVID 19 PG Volunteer Car Parades to keep things organized.
"I just want to give a huge thank you to everyone who has been making this possible, not just for the birthday parades, but for everyone who has helped us out with donations and for the different not-for-profits we have partnered up with and started assisting."
The volunteers have three birthday parades planned for tonight (April 2) and you can find more information here on how to join in on the fun.
