SAN ANTONIO — Roy Ruiz is more than a man who brings cake, ice cream, and goodies to the Davidson Respite House. To the children who live there, he's Mr. Birthday.
"I've been called Mr. Birthday, Mr. Roy. My favorite one is Uncle Roy. Right now, that seems to be the going thing,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz is single with no biological children, so he embraces the titles the kids give him.
The 41-year-old is an adjunct biomedical equipment instructor at St. Philip's College. This fall, he's being promoted to a fulltime manufacturing machine tech instructor.
As an honor student at St. Philip's College, he helped clean the yard at the Davidson Respite House. He met children who would change his life.
According to Respite Care SA's CEO Larry Mejia, 605 Belknap Place houses abused special needs children.
"It's a very traumatic situation where there's physical abuse or emotional abuse, sexual abuse," he said.
Their mission is to provide a stable home environment for children who've been removed from their homes by Child Protective Services.
"From learning their story, sometimes they haven't had consistent meals," Mejia noted. "They haven't had someone to hold them."
The staff and volunteers become the victims' new family. Ruiz isn't sure if he saw that coming seven years ago when he inquired about birthday parties for the kids.
He was told there wasn't much in the budget for such activities.
"They would get a little birthday cupcake with a candle on it and that would pretty much be it," Ruiz said.
The next month, Ruiz was given permission to start throwing birthday parties for the kids. He showed up with a cake and ice cream. The rest was history.
Ruiz allows the birthday honorees to pick the theme. He secures donations to make the parties happen right down to their present.
"Their birthday is important," he said. " You don't want them to lose that."
Infants to 17-year-olds are treated to DJs, petting zoos, wet and wild parties, super heroes, magicians, and video game characters. The events are birthday therapy designed to take the victims’ minds away from their circumstances.
"When we do this this, they get to forget about all the stuff that going on and just be a kid," said Ruiz, who won the United Way's Crisis Intervention Volunteer of the Year for being Mr. Birthday.
The parties are monthly. If you'd like to contribute to the children's birthday bashes Ruiz can be reached via email at Mr.RuizPTK@gmail.com.
If you’d like to make a donation to Respite Care of San Antonio, you can visit their official website here.