PHOTO PROVIDED Pictured are Piper and Peyton, members of the Clinton County 4-H club, Mane Attraction, during food distribution at The New Love Center. Peyton, age 11, spearheaded a community service project through her 4-H club to put together “birthday boxes” that families could pick up when visiting the food pantry.

JERSEY SHORE — Members of Clinton County 4-H Club, Mane Attraction, Piper and Peyton, recently helped those in need through a unique project for The New Love Center.

Peyton, 11, spearheaded a community service project through her 4-H club to put together “birthday boxes” that families could pick up when visiting the food pantry.

The boxes include everything needed to allow recipients to celebrate a family birthday. The kits include a disposable cake pan, cake mix, lemon lime soda (used in place of eggs and oil to bake the cake), icing, candles, a tablecloth, party plates, napkins and a birthday card. Some kits include balloons or other small decorations. The tableware in the kits range in color and theme to make sure there is something fun for everyone.

4-H club members and members of Phelp’s Chapel donated the items for the kits which were then inventoried to determine how many could be made for donation.

Peyton worked with club leader, Sarina Bower, to create an inventory list and determine what would need to be purchased to make sure each kit was complete.

According to Bower, “We laid everything out and counted it. The largest number for any one item was 33 so we opted to make 33 boxes for donation. I gave her a pen and some scrap paper and allowed her to work out how many of the rest of the items we needed to purchase to make each kit complete. Once we had that list, we looked up the average price of each item and came up with a total of what it would cost to purchase everything and then asked the club members to approve the use of club funds to shop for the remaining items. It was such a good exercise in problem solving and taking the math they are using in school and putting it to use in a real world situation.”

The club members unanimously voted to use funds from the club account to shop for the remaining items at Walmart.

“I really wanted her to take ownership of this project so we went to Walmart with our list and basically set her free. She had a lot of fun picking out different themed tablecloths and plates as well as making sure there was a good selection of cake flavors and icings so that there was something to appeal to everyone,” added Bower.

Once all of the boxes were assembled, they were delivered to The New Love Center’s Annex. The volunteers were thrilled to be able to offer these to their clients.

“I’m sure our clients will really appreciate and enjoy them because a lot of them don’t really have the funds to buy things to make cakes when birthdays come up, especially if they have multiple birthdays close together,” says Ginger Hackner, volunteer coordinator.

Sarah Harmon, Peyton’s mom, said, “They are learning that sometimes helping others is not all about money. Yes, some people need financial help but it can come in other forms and put a smile on their faces.”

“It’s good to help the community because we are a part of the community and we don’t know when we might have an unfortunate experience and need help,” she added.

Peyton chimed in saying, “I was really surprised by how many we gave away in such a short period of time. And how many people were so willing to take them. It felt good because it’s showing the older people that young people are willing to help them out.”