Throw a tea party at an Orphanage
WHY?
Orphanages try to create a family environment for children who are not able to live with their family anymore (this can be in case the parents died, but often also because the children were abandoned or abused by their family in the past). This includes a social environment, but often also an educational environment.
While the children fully depend on their Orphanage, the Orphanages themselves are often underfunded, meaning that the children will not experience that many positive surprises in their daily life. In many countries Orphanages or Orphans in general can even be stigmatized by society.
It is common in many facilities that the children spend time together with the supervising staff every day, so by throwing a tea party for everyone, you make a part of their daily routine more special while not interfering too much with the general flow or overly spoiling them.
WHO?
Lists of local Orphanages can easily be found on Google Maps, but can usually also be obtained through the supervising government department. There are Orphanages in various sizes and it makes sense to take a look at those first, who are smaller and therefore are less likely to receive any kind of donations. Smaller Orphanages also allow you to scale your snacks easier.
There are different kind of Orphanages, usually children of similar age live together. You can decide whether you want to focus more on younger children who might have been just rescued from an abusive family or older children who might struggle to transition into normal adult life.
HOW?
Step 1 – Contact Orphanage
- Contact the Orphanage you selected by phone or online and tell them that you would like to donate by throwing a tea party for them, providing them snacks and drinks. Ask them if this is something they would be interested in.
- In case they are open for it, confirm the number of children that will attend, the full address and the contact person as well as a potential delivery schedule. You can later buy snacks based on the number of children.
- If you want, you can ask if the staff is okay to take a few pictures or videos for you, though please don’t post them online without all faces being properly blured for the protection of the children and staff.
Step 2 – Prepare Snacks
- Buy enough snacks and drinks for all children and a few staff members that will supervise the children, then put all into a box.
- Optionally you can wrap the box nicely to make it look like a present. If you want, you can add a card to it where you express what you think.
Step 3 – Send Snacks to Orphanage
- Once your box is prepared, you can either send it to the Orphanage or hand it over yourself.
- Coordinate with the Orphanage to make sure they expect your delivery or you showing up.
- It is possible that in case you decide to show up personally, you are not allowed to come in. Please respect that some Orphanages can be closed to outsiders for the protection of the children.