BOSTON -- Children living in homeless shelters can miss a lot in life, but a local group is trying to make sure that those kids are not denied perhaps the big event each year -- the celebration of their birthdays.

Birthday Parties Thrown For Kids In Shelters

"Children living in homeless shelters rarely have their birthdays celebrated or even recognized," said Lisa Vasiloff, of Birthday Wishes.

NewsCenter 5's Jim Boyd reported that thanks to Birthday Wishes, a nonprofit group based in Newton, young residents in some 65 homeless shelters from Worcester to Falmouth don't have their birthdays overlooked.

Birthday Wishes was planning a party Thursday for a 7-year-old girl.

"These are the goody bags. We've got 15 kids for this party," Vasiloff said. "We have a Scooby Doo puzzle we're going to give her."

Gift items, party supplies, cakes and party treats are all donated, and the parties are run by volunteers.

Birthday Wishes has been functioning on small private donations and small corporate grants. But recently, they've been aided by some major corporations and their employees.

Vasiloff said some companies write a check for $2,000, enough to sponsor birthday parties at a shelter for a year.

"But what more of them do is actually adopt a shelter and become the party coordinator for that shelter, and so the company's employees get all of the supplies that they need and they go and run the party every month," Vasiloff said.

Birthday Wishes has planned parties for 1,000 kids this year, but considering the economic climate, Vasiloff feels the demand is about to grow.

"You don't like to see the same child for more than one birthday. You hope that they've moved out. But I think we're going to see more people in for longer and over crowding," Vasiloff said.