The following article appeared in the April 4th, 2005 issue of the Star Tribune Newspaper

By Donna Halvorsen

When Robin Robin Maynard Steele and Kevin Maynard wrote checks to charities a dozen years ago, they were grumpy givers. They felt more like they were paying bills than making a difference. So they created a cause: giving poor children a reason to feel good on their birthday.

Cheerful Givers was born.

In November, the organization filled gift bag No. 100,000 with toys, treats and books for children ages 3 to 12. Now Cheerful Givers is ready to spread its angelic wings, thanks to a People magazine article that brought dozens of calls from people who want to do similar work elsewhere.

“Our vision was to become a nationwide organization, and now … we will be moving those plans up,” said president Karen Kitchel. “I’m tracking people who want to start chapters of Cheerful Givers.”

The response thrills the Maynards, who donated their first 12 gift bags to a food shelf in Fridley in 1993 and founded the charity in 1994. “It’s incredible how far it’s come,” Robin Maynard said. “It’s really taken on a life of its own because people have a passion for it.”

Cheerful Givers has no deep pockets to fund a national expansion. “Right now if we had a million dollars, we could make things happen everywhere, but we really don’t,” Maynard Steele said. “We’re just really local right now and trying to get the funds to keep going.”

The elderly, the disabled, students, church congregations and civic groups 925 volunteers last year alone fill bags with gifts. Cheerful Givers provides the bags and gifts, which are donated or purchased with donated money. Then it takes the bags to food shelves or shelters where parents pick them up. Seemingly simple, it’s labor-intensive.

But there’s a simpler approach that can be used anywhere, Maynard Steele said. Once a month, employees at Land O’ Lakes, where she works in public relations, meet during lunch hour to fill bags with gifts they’ve bought themselves. Then they take the bags to a food shelf. Medtronic in Fridley, Ecolab in St. Paul and BI (formerly Business Incentives) in Edina have similar events. “That’s something we could start (elsewhere) right away,” Robin said.

The idea took off when Robin noticed that the food shelf they visited 12 years ago had no birthday cake mixes. Children were given a box of their favorite cereal or a can of their favorite vegetable for their birthdays, she was told.

“My family made such a big deal of birthdays,” she said. “I felt so special, so loved. A box of your favorite cereal? At that point I realized how clueless I was as to the needs. This was something we could do. We could take all these checks that we weren’t really happy about anyway and buy stuff for kids.”

The first recipient was ecstatic about getting a gift for her child. That was all the Maynards needed to start shopping — with unbridled passion. “If there was a deal, we were on it,” Robin said. “We were so joyful and excited about it that we became rambunctious.”

Then they realized they were spending more and more money but they weren’t meeting the need. Over the years they obtained nonprofit status, set up a board of directors and created a partnership with Second Harvest food shelves, which has 870 affiliates in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Gifts are available at 170 of those agencies. Gifts were given to 22,000 children last year. This year’s goal is 25,000.

“I would really just like for children to have a wonderful birthday,” Robin said. “It’s more than a gift, it’s a celebration, it’s a recognition, it’s for their self esteem, just to feel special on that day.”

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