ECHOage offers children's birthday parties with a conscious

Print

E-mail

Text

At eight years old, Jack Gangbar already knows the environment is an important thing to protect.

The Grade 3 student is a green monitor in his class, making sure all the recyclables and litter are in its proper place.

However, Gangbar's desire to give a helping hand doesn't end at school. Recently, he had an ECHOage birthday party, a way to celebrate his birthday while also contributing to a good cause.

ECHOage is an online service launched in Canada in November 2007 by Toronto moms Debbie Zinman and Alison Smith. With four children between them, the two moms were often attending birthday parties and noticed kids were receiving a lot of gifts they didn't want or need. So, the ECHOage idea of "one gift, one cause" was born.

"We thought we could bring more meaning to the birthday event and make it a time for a child to learn about giving to others and also receiving one big gift they really want for themselves," said Zinman.

Kids these days, she said, are learning about the environment and other problems affecting the world, and many children are looking for an opportunity to help. Having an ECHOage party, Zinman said, is a great way to do that.

"We thought we'd turn the birthday party into a giving celebration where the child is doing something for others... and hopefully inspiring other people to follow in their footsteps," she said.

ECHOage ("echo" refers to a child's voice and the ripple effect of the child's actions, and "age" refers to the doing of that action on their birthday) is a simple concept, yet an effective way to help others, Zinman said.

How it works is parents go online and they choose an invitation and the charity of their choice, which currently includes organizations like Evergreen, a charity that creates green spaces and playgrounds for children, and Second Harvest.

"The charities we've chosen directly improve the lives of children," Zinman said. "We wanted the children to feel they've actually helped other children."

Zinman said the invitations ask attendees to send between $10 and $40 to the site and that money is then divided, with half of the total going towards the child's gift, and the other to the charity.

Second Harvest is an organization that picks up and delivers fresh food to social services across the GTA. They rely heavily on donations from others to keep their delivery trucks on the road all year around.

Executive director Zoe Cormack Jones said so far they've received more than $10,000 from ECHOage parties and the money helped to provide 20,000 meals to those in need. She said every dollar they receive is appreciated because they feed about 15,000 people each day, many of them children.

"We were really lucky to be chosen by ECHOage," said Cormack Jones. "We get funds from them and it's lovely because they do all the work."

Gangbar said his ECHOage party was really fun, and he was happy he raised $155 for Evergreen. He also proudly said: "I'm going to do it (have an ECHOage party) every year."

"I want to give money to help the environment and I want money to buy my own present because you don't always get the presents that you want and sometimes there are a lot of them," he said.

Also, since he is so concerned about the environment, not only does he get the present he wants, but he gets to contribute to the cause he loves by making sure those unwanted toys and the waste from packaging don't end up in the landfill.

With his half of the money Gangbar said he plans to buy Lego Star Wars and Pokeman cards. Even better, he said he helped to inspire his friend to also have an ECHOage party.

Zinman said both she and Smith were inspired to create ECHOage by their children because they want to do what they can to raise their children with a sense of deriving meaning from the things they do, while giving them an opportunity to see the world from a global perspective.

So far, the duo has helped to host more than 1,000 ECHOage parties across North America, with Zinman and Smith launching ECHOage in the United States this past February.

Since it's not about the party but bringing meaning to your party, she said any event, like a sleepover, a hockey party or a graduation, can be an ECHOage party. Zinman said they hope the ECHOage concept continues to catch on and they have plans to expand ECHOage to include any occasion, including ones for adults.

If you are interested in hosting an ECHOage party, visit their website at www.echoage.com