Palm Beach County's Biggest Birthday Celebration Benefits Local Vulnerable Children

Speak Up for Kids is hosting Gift-A-Birthday extravaganza, touted as Palm Beach County’s biggest birthday celebration! Proceeds benefit 1,600+ local child victims of abuse and neglect!

On April 8, 2021, Speak Up for Kids is set to host the Gift-A-Birthday extravaganza, the brainchild of local author, communications strategist, and mother of two, Shaw Thomas. Touted as Palm Beach County’s biggest birthday celebration, all proceeds will benefit the almost 1,600 local child victims of abuse and neglect.

Shaw Thomas was introduced to child welfare and the societal implications of abuse, abandonment, and neglect through her work with various South Florida organizations. Through her many service efforts, she was learned about the work of the Guardian ad Litem Program, a league of approximately 600 volunteer court-appointed child advocates serving as the voice for victims of maltreatment.

“I saw, in a very real way, how the budget shortfalls realized by the Guardian ad Litem Program had a direct impact on the safety, security, normalcy, and permanency goals of the children the system set out to serve,” says Thomas. When a dedicated group of volunteer advocates decided to form the Speak up for Kids of Palm Beach County nonprofit with an exclusive focus on raising supplemental funding for the Guardian ad Litem, Thomas was at the table as a founding member, dedicated to achieving 100% advocacy for all children involved in dependency proceedings.

Known in her professional circles as a solution-oriented leader, Thomas created Speak Up for Kids ‘Gift-A-Birthday’ program as a call to action. “To be truly impactful, conversations around child welfare and foster care must include normalcy for victims. That includes celebrating a child on his or her birthday,” says Thomas, “and anyone can make that happen with a $25 donation.”
“Conversations around child victimization, dependency proceedings, and foster care are nebulous and overwhelming at best for most people, leaving those