Birthday Fundraiser was started with the goal of inspiring today’s youth to leave a positive impact in the world. The mission is accomplished by educating individuals about local charities while helping them raise needed funds to continue their heartwarming work.
I came up with the idea after deciding I wanted to raise my daughter to be a good, caring and giving person. I believe in looking for opportunities to make a positive difference for those around us. Originally I planned on volunteering every year around November 20th & 21st since my daughter & I have back-to-back birthdays. The concept of Birthday Fundraiser didn’t come to be until Patty Vesh shared a post about her event venue and catering in our community Facebook Group. I used to produce events when I lived in Los Angeles California. Creating a fundraising event to do every year seemed like a better way to teach my daughter the importance of giving. I wanted the first fundraiser to be personal so I selected a charity that helped premature babies. Alexandria was born 6 weeks early due to me having Preeclampsia and she stayed in the NICU for two weeks.
I ended up learning about Twenty-Five and Four after posting in a community Facebook group asking if anyone knew of a local charity helping preemies. Twenty-Five and Four makes compassionate shirts for babies in the NICU. A lot of the babies they make shirts for are too small for preemie clothes.
When explaining my fundraising idea to Patty Vesh, she immediately agreed to sponsor and host the event. She even agreed to sell buffet tickets where $5 from each ticket would go directly to the charity. The raffle would be themed like birthday gifts with 100% of the income from tickets sold going to the featured charity. Next I found a t-shirts sponsor, followed by a cake sponsor, then a photography sponsor, who connected me with a children’s entertainment sponsor and so on. Everyone loved the concept and wanted to be apart of the fundraiser.
I came to the decision after much thought to officially turn Birthday Fundraiser into its own nonprofit organization. The mission statement being to inspire today’s youth to make a positive difference in the world and educating the community on local charities while helping the charities raise needed funds. The focus is to select one local charity every year to help raise awareness and conduct a big fundraiser for it in November.
I can now not only encourage and inspire my daughter to make a difference but to inspire others. I hope to start doing motivational speaking at local schools and groups to encourage individuals to take what they love and find ways to use it to help others. It’s important to put the good out into the world so it’ll be there to come back to you.

- Rhiannon “Nikki” McFarling
​(Alexandria’s Mom)