• Your Faithful Journeys Action Club may wish to create a "birthday" fund to which children, or perhaps the entire congregation, can contribute money that would have gone toward birthday presents. Work with your congregation's treasurer to establish a fund within the congregation's budget, so that club funds can be deposited into the congregation's account, yet remain a separate line item for the group to spend on donations of their choosing.

Like the character Ray in the story "Finding Balance," participants may wish to ask some or all of the people who would ordinarily give them birthday gifts to contribute instead to a good cause. If you have created a Faithful Journeys Action Club (Session 4), a birthday fund is a good way for the club to raise funds for a cause they have selected.

If the group creates a birthday fund, you will need to periodically remind participants of its existence. When someone has contributed to the fund, certainly take the opportunity to tell the group during the Faithful Footprints activity.

Families may be in very different economic circumstances, and participants' expectations around birthday presents may vary considerably. Honor all contributions. Announce the total funds raised, rather than the amounts of individual contributions.

You may wish to encourage children to increase the fund through their own work, such as with a car wash or a lemonade stand.