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New community group helps strangers celebrate birthday with a drive-by party

'They will never forget this birthday'

Social distancing mandates have not stopped the Guelph community from finding creative ways to celebrate the birthdays of children in the community.

A Facebook group called Guelph Kids Social Distancing Birthday Parade created by Jennifer Lynn is dedicated to gathering community members to drive by homes to celebrate birthdays.

“I was thinking about all the kids that aren’t going to be able to celebrate birthdays,” said Lynn whose son’s birthday is approaching early May.

She said after seeing a video of friends and families celebrating their relative’s birthdays online, she thought many people in the community who don’t have friends and family would love community support. 

“I asked some people if they were interested on some message boards and I got such a big response that I decided to create a group,” said Lynn who then began to organize the first parade.

On Sunday, a parade of approximately 30 to 40 cars drove by residents Erin Engleby and Jeff Thompson’s home in the east end to celebrate the birthdays of their two daughters, Hannah, 9, and Heidi, 4. 

Engleby said while only a few people had mentioned that they were going to participate in the parade, there was a turnout of approximately 30 to 40 cars on Sunday that drove by her home honking, holding signs, screaming happy birthday, and even throwing gifts out of their windows. 

“People were throwing bags out their window with balloons and chocolate and money and jewelry.”

“It was the craziest thing,” said Engleby adding that she only knew a handful of the numerous people that drove by which included families, elders and other children. 

In the video, the children are seen observing the cars drive by in front of their home and even running towards the cars to pick up presents thrown out the windows.

“The first person that threw something out their window, I was like no way. NO WAY,” said Engleby who was at a complete loss of words of the kind gesture. 

One of the notes attached to a wrapped present read “Happy Birthday Hannah, I hope someday when you're old enough you will pay it forward. You'll never forget this birthday.”

“It was so sweet. They will never forget this birthday,” said Engleby. 

Engleby said as her daughters’ birthdays were approaching, she was worried that they would be spending the celebrations in isolation while not being able to see members of the community.

“To not have any family or friends come to see you for your birthday, for a little kid its a lot. It’s a big deal.”

She said while it is easy to be caught up in the negativity of the current situation, the incident definitely helped her focus on the positive side of things. 

“What better way to show that we’re all in this together,” said Engleby.

Lynn said people were really excited just to be able to participate in something and look forward to something in a time when everyone is locked up in their homes. 

She said in the future, she hopes to organize parades based on location and group dates together so the demonstrations retain the same level of energy and participation of the first parade. 


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Anam Khan

About the Author: Anam Khan

Anam Khan is a journalist who covers numerous beats in Guelph and Wellington County that include politics, crime, features, environment and social justice
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