photo by: Courtesy of Diana Palacios

Kaylee Palacios opens gifts from her birthday box on her seventh birthday.

A year ago, Margo Russell decided she’d make it her mission to help ensure that kids in need can have a special, memorable birthday.

Russell is the leader of the Douglas County chapter of Box of Balloons, a nonprofit organization based in Wisconsin that provides children in families battling poverty or homelessness with custom-made boxes containing all the necessary supplies for throwing a birthday party. The Douglas County chapter is one of almost 60 chapters across 34 states.

Russell told the Journal-World that last year she was originally looking to start an entirely new nonprofit. Instead, she found Box of Balloons and decided that establishing a chapter would be worth pursuing since the community lacked such a service.

Since then, Russell said, she’s been working with area agencies — such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Douglas County and The Willow Domestic Violence Center — and school social workers to find referrals for kids in need who have birthdays approaching. She then connects with their families and helps to curate a box based on the child’s interests and gifts they might like to receive. It’s a deliberate process, Russell said.

photo by: Courtesy of Margo Russell

Birthday boxes from Box of Balloons look much like this one; they’re filled with themed decorations, gifts and birthday treats.

“It’s more for the low-income children, and that’s why we need to go through an agency to verify that there is a need for that child and we’re not just giving out birthday boxes to everyone that is asking for one,” Russell said. “So we don’t give them out to the parents; they go through the agency, usually.”

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Diana Palacios and her family are one example of local residents who have benefited from the Douglas County Box of Balloons chapter. In fact, the nonprofit helped the family celebrate not just one birthday but four, all in the span of two months.

Palacios is part of a family of eight, including six children. Two of them are teenagers, but the rest are younger. The four youngest — Rowan, 2; Zoey, 3; Zayla, 5, and Kaylee, 7 — have all recently had a birthday, two of them in April and two in May.

On top of the proximity of all those birthdays, celebrating them was further complicated by the fact that the family is currently homeless. Palacios said Box of Balloons came through and provided birthday gifts and decorations for all four of her younger children; she said all of the birthday kids “loved it.”

The Palacios family’s situation differs slightly from how Box of Balloons usually connects with recipients in that she reached out to the nonprofit directly, rather than through a referral.

“When we first got here to Lawrence from Kansas City, I just started looking on Google for resources to help me and the kids, and I came across Box of Balloons and gave them a call, and it just went from there,” Palacios said. “They delivered everything on time, and all of the kids were just super happy with everything. They provide literally everything for you to decorate your party, utensils to eat, cupcakes, birthday gifts, the whole thing. It was awesome.”

photo by: Courtesy of Diana Palacios

Rowan Palacios, who recently turned 2, enjoys a treat from her birthday box.

Given their circumstances, having a resource like Box of Balloons helped a lot, Palacios said, and was a “huge blessing.”

It also meant a lot to her children, Palacios said, since they’ve been able to perceive the family’s current situation in their own way.

“They’re so little; they don’t know, but they do know,” Palacios said. “It meant a lot to them receiving the dolls they had asked for, and just seeing the expression on their faces.”

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There are a few needs the chapter is looking to meet right now, Russell said. They could use more volunteer help, especially in the form of a chapter co-leader to help take some of the load from Russell, and a better location to store and put together the materials used for birthday boxes. For now, she said she’s using her sister’s garage, but a bigger space would be helpful.

Russell said she’s also on the lookout for more area agencies willing to provide the nonprofit with referrals so they can reach more kids in need.

To learn more about Box of Balloons or to volunteer, contact Russell at (785) 764-4287 or boxofballoons.lawrenceks@gmail.com.