In 2023, as part of our initiative to increase our impact, Law Rocks has begun offering a new award for each Law Rocks show: The Hustle & Heart Award. This award is given to the band that has the highest number of unique donors contributing to the “Donation” category (separate from sponsorships or ticket sales). Law Rocks makes an additional donation to the winning band's charity of choice.
Law Rock celebrates grassroot, community efforts, and The Hustle & Heart award is meant to encourage donations for each band’s nonprofit pick. We are thrilled to increase our support of small, local nonprofits who would otherwise not be receiving this funding.
Today’s spotlight is on OPERATION BIRTHDAY, the first ever winner of the Hustle & Heart Award at our Friday Night Los Angeles show on March 10, 2023. Operation Birthday was the chosen nonprofit of Hustle & Heart Award Winners The Big Wheels, featuring legal talent from Wheeler Bio; Allen Matkins; and Stealth Bio. Band member Gabe McCool praised the nonprofit for helping to win the award: “The Operation Birthday team, led by Kelley and Tony, was an absolute force in getting its community to pay attention and give big. The band members all pushed messaging on social media and email, but the organization itself played the winning factor the successful donation campaign we had.”
Based on the success of our Los Angeles event, we were able to give Operation Birthday an additional $5,000 grant, on top of the $11,530 already raise by The Big Wheels.
See below for our spotlight interview with Kelley Khoury, Founder & Board Member of Operation Birthday and learn more about the wonderful work this organization is doing.
1. Can you tell us a little about your organization and its mission?
Operation Birthday is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is founded on the principle that all children deserve a birthday celebration. Our mission is to ensure each child feels special on their birthday by providing parents in need with birthday items they are not able to afford.
We pride ourselves on how each Birthday Kit is customized for each child - which means each parent gets to design and suggest items as if they were shopping for the kiddos themselves. This protects the parent’s dignity while also ensuring each child feels as special as possible. We put so much love into each Kit – we even include batteries for any toy that requires them.
Some additional information on Operation Birthday:
The Founders cover all fixed overhead costs and volunteer their time – which means each donation goes directly towards the Birthday Kits.
Our Board consists of 80% women
Each Birthday Kit on average is $100; cost of presents is limited to $60
We currently help kiddos 12 and under (as we cannot give gift cards)
We ship anywhere in the continental US (excluding Hawaii, Alaska + Puerto Rico), but our headquarters and main focus is in Colorado.
2. What is one success story you’re really proud of?
We received a request for a single mom of three. The oldest daughter was turning 3 and she has twin siblings that are 1 year old. One of the twins was born with 2 genetic disorders (DiGeorge’s syndrome and Goldenhar syndrome). She’s severely disabled (trach, feeding tube, neurological issues, and one kidney with kidney disease). Due to the shortage of nurses the mother is the only caregiver and works from home. Unfortunately, the dad is not an active parent at this time. She makes $112 too much a month to qualify for food stamps so she relies on food pantries.
We pride ourselves on how customized our Birthday Kits are to ensure we meet the needs of those we help. Below highlights this as we typically include cake mix in our Birthday Kits but due to a broken oven – we were asked for a no-bake dessert.
“If you could please help with anything for her birthday it would mean the world to me. Unfortunately, the focus is usually on her disabled sister, so I’d really like to make her birthday her special day. You provided a care package last year for her when her sister was in the pediatric ICU and it meant so much to me. I just want to say thank you for all that you do and all the smiles you give to so many children. I know this is a lot to ask and I apologize, but our oven is broken. Could we possibly get one of those no bake cheesecake mixes or lemon bars or a no bake Oreo cake. If not I understand.”
From the start, we set up a feedback loop to ensure we remain aligned with our mission. We were able to accommodate the request and below is the feedback we received.
“This Birthday Kit is so awesome. She is going to love it! She unfortunately sometimes doesn’t get the spotlight like she should. Her 1-year-old sister has a trach and a lot of medical conditions and can take away from her at times. This Birthday Kit is going to make her birthday special and can be just about her for once.
I can’t fully put into words how much this helps give my daughter a special day just for her. Plus, financially I could not put together what you have done. The generosity of others has touched me and I deeply appreciate the care and thoughtfulness that was put into this. I’ve always been a very independent and stubborn person and find it difficult to reach out to others for help. I hope you know how much this means to me and my daughter, please keep spreading love , kindness, and generosity…. It truly can help those that are barely getting through a day at a time.”
3. What programs and initiatives do you have scheduled for the upcoming year?
We have our 2nd annual virtual 5K in September 2023 – more details to come soon! Our website and social media platform will be updated once the details are finalized.
Learn more about Operation Birthday: