Chandler Boy Has Birthday, Donates Proceeds to Red Cross

Darren Brown, News9

BETHANY, Oklahoma -- A Chandler fourth-grader was so moved by the scope of last week's storms that he made the decision to do what he could, even if it meant donating his birthday money.

Chance Sullivan and his family huddled in their cellar last when the storm near Shawnee got close.

"I was really scared when they said it was coming," Sullivan said.  "We saw what it was doing to the houses."

Chance's mother Kristin had planned on celebrating her son's birthday on Memorial Day weekend, since things were hectic on his actual birthday on May 2.

"I'm notorious for having birthday parties after the birthday," she said.  "We have a lot of family that we like to involve."

That decision to move Chance's party changed everything.  After the storms, Chance was watching the coverage on television and felt the need to do something.

"These people....they need lots of help," he said.

It was his mother's suggestion to donate his birthday money to the Red Cross, but Chance agreed.  At his party, his friends also chipped in, for a total of two hundred and eighty-one dollars.

Donations like Chance's, and the stories that come with them never cease to amaze Janienne Bella, Red Cross of Central Oklahoma CEO.

"It just comes from all different places," Bella said.  "And we couldn't do it without donations from the public."