​Rita Ronning was named the 2016 Volunteer of the Year because she was, and continues to be, an incredible volunteer with a passion for our mission to help children. Rita has assembled thousands of gift bags, picked up products, delivered birthday gift bags to food shelves, spruced up teddy bears with colorful ribbons, organized the warehouse, sorted many thousands of books, taken projects homes to work on them and rounded up people to help, including her husband, Rick (Thanks a million, Rick!), her friend, Mary, and even friends from out-of-town who are visiting.

We thank Rita for the countless ways she has helped our program. I am forever grateful to her for all of the hours, dedication and passion she has brought to our charity. Rita is an amazing cheerful giver! Thank you for making happiness happen for kids :)

What a great pleasure to meet Tyler Edberg and his family! Tyler contacted Cheerful Givers a couple months ago and wanted to conduct a toy drive in honor of his upcoming Bar Mitzvah in November.
Tyler created a flier with information regarding his toy drive and set out to let everyone know about his plan to help under-privileged children have HAPPY birthdays. On the last day of school, he gave out the fliers to school mates, then through out summer break, he spoke to family members, neighbors, friends, the soccer team and even his Dad's co-workers. Gifts came from everywhere, including a box of toys sent from California.
Tyler also received cash donations, which he used to go shopping for more toys. His sister, Peyton, even donated $50 of her own money to help her brother with his goal.
All in all, Tyler collected 189 beautiful items for our birthday bag program! When his family dropped off the items at Cheerful Givers, they had fun using some of the products they collected to make wonderful birthday bags, which our clients will be proud to give their children and the children will love to have to celebrate their special day.
Thanks, Tyler, you are an Outstanding Cheerful Giver!

​Our founder, Robin Zelaya, was amazed when Makena Pratt dropped off 255 books that she had collected at her school. Makena is a 10th grade ambassador and chose Cheerful Givers for her service project. "When I saw your organization, I knew that I would like to get involved with it," said Makena. Her book drive was a hug success. We try to get a great book in each birthday bag, and Makena's cheerful efforts made it possible for hundreds of birthday bags to include a book. Thanks, Makena! You are an awesome ambassador and we really appreciate all of your help for our birthday bag program.