Amberly Shroyer stands in a ball pit with flowers, candy and a card, which she will give away on Valentine’s Day to individuals without homes. After the COVID-19 pandemic limited seven-year-old Amberly Shroyer and her family’s opportunities for volunteerism, she developed some initiatives of her own.
The Norman second grader at Le Monde International Charter School expressed concern about the homeless community during the beginning of the pandemic.
During a Loveworks Leadership lesson about a teenager who threw birthday parties for kids in shelters, Amberly asked her mom, “What about the adults?”
This question led to the creation of Amberly’s Sensational Celebration.
“I was on the At Home Leadership [program], and there was this girl doing birthday parties for homeless kids, and that made me want to do parties for grown ups,” Amberly said.
For the last 3 months, Amberly has thrown monthly birthday celebrations for homeless residents at Norman Food and Shelter.
The celebration includes birthday cake and gifts for all of the residents whose birthdays fall in that month.
In December, Amberly held a coat and sleeping bag drive so that all of that month’s party attendees could leave with a gift that provides comfort.Now, Amberly is looking to create a memorable Valentine’s Day for those without homes. With the help of her mom, Elle, they came up with the idea to partner with local florists and candy shops to give out flowers, chocolates and homemade cards.Elle said they will visit Food and Shelter, Salvation Army, Bridges of Norman and Mission Norman to hand out Valentine’s day gifts.“Amberly pitched her idea to several stores with a goal of 60 gifts and came away with 250 flowers,” Elle said. “We are working with several different groups to make cards and collect donations for chocolate to spread love this year on Valentine’s Day.”Amberly expressed excitement after […]
Now, Amberly is looking to create a memorable Valentine’s Day for those without homes. With the help of her mom, Elle, they came up with the idea to partner with local florists and candy shops to give out flowers, chocolates and homemade cards.
Elle said they will visit Food and Shelter, Salvation Army, Bridges of Norman and Mission Norman to hand out Valentine’s day gifts.
“Amberly pitched her idea to several stores with a goal of 60 gifts and came away with 250 flowers,” Elle said. “We are working with several different groups to make cards and collect donations for chocolate to spread love this year on Valentine’s Day.”
Amberly expressed excitement after receiving flower donations from The Flower Shop, Betty Lou’s Flowers, and Redbud Floral.
“This is really big news because we got a lot of flowers,” Amberly said. “We went to three florists; one florist is donating 10, another is donating 70 carnations and the other one is donating a case of roses which is 14 dozen.”
Loveworks Leadership and Amberly are combining their efforts to make cards and have made over 100 cards so far. Amberly said they went to a chocolate store and are waiting on confirmation to get chocolate and caramel turtles, but are looking for additional chocolate donations.
They are encouraging those who would like to make cards or donate chocolates to email them at sensationalcelebration@gmail.com.
“Our biggest need is for chocolate or small prepackaged valentine’s treats to hand out,” Elle said. “We have 170 cards donated so far, so just 70 to go.”
The work doesn’t stop for Amberly after Valentine’s Day passes. In March, Amberly plans to coordinate a donation drive for spring and summer months.
Amberly said she wants to continue helping people and continuing her dream of enacting positive changes in her community.
“I like giving out presents and talking to people; all of them are nice,” Amberly said. “I know I’m making change now, but I want to make a bigger change when I grow up.”
From the Source: Norman Second grader develops Valentine’s Day initiative for people without homes