DO-
GOODER
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the gift of giving
irthdays are all about
gifts. Tenafly resident
Sofia Seigerman decided
the best gift for her 9th
birthday would be to give
back. She invited 18 of
her closest friends to a party at Ker-
emo Cakes in Cresskill and informed
her guests not to bring any birthday
gifts for her. Instead, she suggested
the money be donated to help the
children of Zainab Memorial School
in Northern Nigeria.
Zainab Memorial School was
founded three years ago by Khuraira
Musa, owner of Khuraira Cosmetics
in Tenafly. Musa founded the school
as a way to give back, in memory of
her late Aunt Zainab, who rescued
her from an orphanage in Northern
Nigeria after losing her mother at
birth. The purpose of the school is to
bring underprivileged children of dif-
ferent religious backgrounds together
in unity through education in an area
known for religious infighting.
Through mutual friends, Musa
was introduced to Sofia’s mother
Manuella Borelli Seigerman. When
Manuella told her daughter about
the school Musa had founded, Sofia
volunteered to do something to help.
She started making mini notebook
keychains to sell to friends to raise
money. From there, she came up
with the idea of donating all the
proceeds from her 9th birthday
to the school.
“I was so touched and so
emotional,” Manuella says.
“I was in tears, hearing something
like that from my 8-year-old.”
Sofia credits her mom as her
inspiration.
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AUGUST 2017 | (201) FAMILY
“Since my brother and I were
born, for every birthday my mom
would tell all the guests to not
bring us gifts but to give to people
who really needed things, choos-
ing a different organization every
year,” she says. “When I got older,
I understood what she was doing
and I really liked the idea, so we
kept doing it every year.
“I remember looking at the
photo album from my first birth-
day and seeing many children hav-
ing fun and smiling at me. When I
asked my parents who they were,
I found out that they were children
from a local orphanage and they
were guests at my party. Instead
of gifts, family and friends brought
donations to the orphanage. It was
a happy day for a lot of children.
This year, I chose to help the
Zainab Memorial School. When
I saw pictures of the school that
Khuraira sent to my mom, I knew
that I was going to raise money for
them.”
In all, between the proceeds
from the sale of the keychains and
her birthday, Sofia was able to
raise $1,125 for Zainab Memorial
School.
“Find a way, small or big, to
help someone. It doesn’t take a big
charity event to put a huge smile
on someone’s face,” Sophia says.
“And for your next birthday party,
think like this, do you really need
so many gifts? What makes you
happier? You with 30 gifts that you
will not play with or 30 kids happy
because they each have one gift
they will actually love?” ●
– DEIRDRE FLANAGAN WARD
B
SOFIA SEIGERMAN TURNS BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION INTO A GIVING-BACK CAUSE