An organization dedicated to throwing birthday parties for children living in homeless shelters held its first celebration in New York City this week since the pandemic halted their operations four years ago, delighting kids with cake, gifts and games, and a superhero-inspired bash.

“There's always a smile on their face when they see it because they can't believe like, ‘Oh, the party is for me?’” said Shamane Santos, child care and recreation manager at a Brooklyn family shelter operated by Volunteers of America-Greater New York. “It may be something small for a lot of people, but they don't understand what it's like living in a shelter.”

On Wednesday, the Birthday Party Project celebrated the birthdays of 20 children born in late April or May inside a Brooklyn shelter. It was the organization's first party in the region since COVID-19 disrupted its gatherings. The nonprofit, which launched in 2012, throws birthday parties in 15 cities across the country, partnering with shelter providers to celebrate kids’ birthdays every month. About 30,000 children stayed in a shelter last year, the highest numbers in a decade and a dramatic increase from the year prior, as child care costs, rents and food prices surge and leave families barely scraping by.

The kids poured into the recreation room at their shelter to find capes and superhero masks, as well as coloring games, decorating stations and rope toss. They yelled out their superpowers — “lighting,” “rain,” “flying” – and donned large Hulk gloves and colorful headbands.

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