It is with a heavy but full heart that I share the bittersweet news that after eight years, 4,100+ middle school students served, 250+ birthday kids celebrated, and thousands of youth volunteer and leadership hours generated for hundreds of kids, the Worcester chapter of Simon Says Give will be closing. We will deliver one more birthday in January and our work will come to an end.

In 2016 when I started the Worcester chapter, it was a response to the need I saw around me. With the help of my parents, I was able to build an organization that served all of Worcester. We customized our school supplies program to serve middle schoolers who are often left out of supply drives, and each birthday was delivered by a kid and came personalized cakes and gifts. With the support of the wonderful Mandi and Dina Simon who founded the organization in 2012 in Minnesota, we supported 160 students and celebrated four birthdays that first year.

Still, we didn’t know if our chapter would make it more than a few years. But we continued to serve and grow thanks to the dedication and continued presence and the support of so many amazing humans from my parents, Jim and Amy; Morgan and Julianna (and their families) who took over as kid presidents when I left for college; Mylo, Chloe, Natalie, Brendan, Giselle, Ysabel, Finlay, Ellie, and Dontae who served as kid advisory board members; our hundreds of volunteers; our partners, especially our friends at Annie's Kindness Blankets, Boys & Girls Club of Worcester, Bay State Savings, Webster Five, DCU for Kids, DA Joe Early’s office, 508foreveryoung, This Star Won't Go Out, Saint John's High School, and The Queen's Cups; and our thousands of individual and corporate/foundation donors. We could never have done any of it without you!

When I was 13, I could have never imagined what Simon Says Give –Worcester would come to mean. In saying goodbye, I remember the countless smiles we have shared with the kids we served, the laughs with kid advisory board members who feel more like siblings, and the way people across Worcester welcomed us into their schools and homes. Though our work is done, I hope many future leaders will be the kids we served and helped celebrate.

All it takes is a willingness to see the world around you, having a big heart, and remembering building a community takes active participation. Kindness is contagious and love knows no age.

Thank you from all of us for letting us serve our city and its kids for these eight years.

Simon Eber