Extra-Ordinary Birthdays throws birthday parties for children experiencing homelessness, but the organization lost everything in a fire.
Police said an arsonist set a neighboring building ablaze in College Park, Md., and that fire spread to the building that houses the nonprofit.
The organization said it needs help finding a new place to call home and replacing all the gifts for upcoming birthdays that were destroyed, after an estimated $250,000 loss, officials said.
Since 2010, the nonprofit provided extraordinary birthdays for over 800 children. The founder, Schinnell Leake, tries to give all of the children a positive experience.
"It gives these families a sense of normalcy in the simple thing of a birthday party," Leake said.
Leake said she wants to raise funds to help replenish all the supplies for the kids and is asking for the public's help with the following items:
- Work/Storage space (College Park)
- Refrigerator: 18-cu ft Top Freezer Refrigerator
- Computer: Dell Inspiron Desktop
- · 8th Generation Intel® Core i5-8400 processor (9MB Cache, up to 4.0 GHz)
- Windows 10 Home 64bit English
- 8GB, DDR4, 2666MHz
- 3.5" 1TB 7200 rpm Hard Drive
- Laptop (2): Lenovo ThinkPad E480 14" Laptop Computer
- Black Intel Core i&-855OU Processor 1.8GHz
- AMD Radeon RX 550 2 GB
- 8GB RAM
- 500GB 7
- 200RPM Hard Drive
- Books
- Printers (2)
- Epson Workforce Pro WF-4740
- Canon Color imageclass MF634Cdw All-in-One Wireless Duplex Laser Printer
- Helium Tanks: BalloonTime Tank for 50 balloons
- Laminating Machine: Scotch Thermal Laminator 9"W
- Storage Containers/Bin
- Sterilite 18 Gallon Storage Bins - Purple (24)
- Sterilite 16 Qt Clear Storage Boxes White Lid (12)
- Sterilite 6 Qt Clear Storage Boxes White Lid (36)
- Sterilite Deep Modular Drawers White (8)
- Goody Bags
- Candy
- Small toys for goody bags
- Balloons
- Dress Up Items various sizes and themes
- Face paint
- Large birthday gift bags
- Tissue paper
- Scrapbook paper
- Cardstock paper (white & black)
- Xerox paper
- Glue/Glue Sticks/Glue Guns
- Scissors (large and small)
- Tape
- Double sided
- Clear
- Mailing
- Duct Tape (Various colors)
- Pencils and Pens
- Markers
- Serving utensils
- Themed party supplies
- Small plain plates (various colors)
- Napkins
- Table Clothes
- Cutlery
- Plastic Storage Bags
- Snack
- Sandwich
- Quart
- Gallon Clear plastic serving trays
If you chose to purchase these supplies, you can drop them off at:
University of Maryland lobby
8400 Baltimore Avenue
College Park, Maryland
A volunteer will be there on Thursday, Dec. 20 between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and on Friday, Dec. 21 between 11 a.n. and 2 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 22 between 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
If you'd like to purchase a gift card to IKEA, Safeway, Walmart, Michael's, Giant, Target, Gas and Staples, you can send the to:
Extra-Ordinary Birthdays Inc.
P.O. Box 1109
College Park, MD 20740
You can also donate to their GoFundMe page to help them find a new space.
On Thursday, the WUSA9 IMPACT team went shopping with Leake at Target and got three carts of supplies. Easterns Automotive Group surprised Leake by paying for everything.
Then moments after, The Invisible Hand Foundation donated $10,000 to Extra-Ordinary Birthdays.
"Our mission is to help children in this area to overcome obstacles to move forward," said Roxana Pierce of The Invisible Hand.
The Invisible Hand Foundation is an incredibly unique group, with a mission to give anonymously. Donors don't know who the recipients are, so they are truly invisible. The group asks for nothing in return. Their only mission is to help better the community and hopefully inspire others to give anonymously as well.