A young boy at a food distribution site was wearing a birthday hat with nowhere to wear it — no party, no cake, nothing planned to mark the day. That single moment, about a year ago, stuck with then-15-year-old Reyha Raghavaraju and eventually grew into Birthday Bundles, a nonprofit that now delivers handmade cakes, gifts, and handwritten cards to families sheltered across metro Atlanta.
Raghavaraju, now a senior at Alpharetta High School, founded the organization after that encounter, according to CBS News Atlanta. Since becoming fully operational in the spring, Birthday Bundles has delivered its personalized packages to more than 136 metro Atlanta families, the station reports, with roughly a dozen student volunteers helping keep the effort running.
A Neighbor Joins the Cause
One of those volunteers is 14-year-old Saira Sharma, Raghavaraju’s neighbor and friend, who helps bake and write the cards that go inside every bundle. Per the same CBS News Atlanta account, Raghavaraju considers those handwritten notes and homemade treats the defining hallmark of what makes each delivery feel personal rather than transactional.
The bundles do not go out at random. Birthday Bundles partners with local shelter organizations to identify families and children who might otherwise go without a celebration, including youth crisis shelter Covenant House Georgia and family shelter Nicholas House, according to CBS News Atlanta and volunteer listings shared on Reddit.
The Shelters Behind the Deliveries
Nicholas House has a long history in the city, having been founded in 1982 as Atlanta’s first long-term family shelter program; the nonprofit’s own records state it accommodates approximately 250 homeless family members each night. Covenant House Georgia, meanwhile, reports that more than 3,300 youth experience homelessness annually across metro Atlanta, and that half of young people aging out of the state’s foster care system become homeless within six months of leaving care…