06.24.25
Every Child Deserves to Feel Celebrated: Spread Your Sunshine Makes Sure They Do
By Hannah Kliniske, Director of Content Strategy, FMWF Chamber
Spread Your Sunshine Founder Addie Loerzel, 2025 ChamberChoice Nonprofit of the Year, smiles with children during a group photo.
Discover how ChamberChoice Nonprofit of the Year Spread Your Sunshine makes every child feel seen, celebrated and connected.
A child’s birthday should feel like magic. A day that stands out. A time when a child feels seen, celebrated and deeply valued.
But for teens facing homelessness or hardship, it too often passes by unnoticed. No cake. No gift. No one saying, “You matter.”
Spread Your Sunshine is changing that story.
This year’s ChamberChoice Nonprofit of the Year is bringing more than smiles to youth in our community. It’s delivering connection, confidence and joy-filled inclusion in every scoop of ice cream and every surprise birthday box. In just two short years, the nonprofit has grown from a grassroots effort into a movement of joy, community and belonging. Their mission is simple but powerful: Create moments that make every child feel like they belong.
Lead with Joy
Spread Your Sunshine serves youth experiencing financial hardship, health challenges or housing insecurity, but not in the ways you might expect. They focus on what’s missing.
It’s about what’s possible.
What’s joyful.
What makes a kid light up?
Their question isn’t, “What do you need?”
It’s, “How do we make you feel celebrated?
Through art classes, community outings, back-to-school parties and birthday surprises, they create access to meaningful, memory-making moments. They spark joy and build belonging. For many kids, these aren’t just fun events. They are lifelines to connection and community. They also have Addie’s Sunshine and Treats, a mobile ice cream cart that offers job training for youth with disabilities. They fund their work and build confidence at the same time.
Programming built on purpose
Each Spread Your Sunshine initiative is crafted with intention and always with kids at the center:
- Bright Birthday Wishes: Personalized celebrations for unaccompanied homeless teens—each one receiving a birthday cake, a special meal of their choice and a gift from their personal wish list.
- Sunshine Gatherings: Monthly hands-on events, like art workshops or holiday parties, are designed to bring kids together and help them feel connected.
- Sunshine Outings: Group trips to places like movie theaters and arcades eliminate transportation and financial barriers so every child can create joyful memories.
And when transportation is a challenge? They bring the celebration to the kids, ensuring no one is left behind.
In total, hundreds of children and teens have participated in these programs—with numbers growing steadily each year.
And it’s not just the kids who benefit. Spread Your Sunshine engages dozens of volunteers, including their YACKS (Young Advocates for Change and Kindness) group, and provides real-world job training to teens with disabilities through Addie’s Sunshine and Treats. The mobile ice cream cart serves the community at local events while raising funds and awareness with 100% of sales going directly to programming.
With 90% of their $23,000 annual budget going straight into services and supplies and not a single full-time staff member, Spread Your Sunshine runs entirely on passion, purpose and people who believe in what’s possible.
Led by Lived Experience
Founder Addie Loerzel leads with lived experience and national recognition in advocacy, but her focus remains local: making sure every child in our region feels like they matter.
Because in the world of Spread Your Sunshine, joy isn’t extra.
It’s essential.
And it’s changing lives—one joyful moment at a time.
Spread Your Sunshine isn’t the only organization making waves in the Fargo Moorhead West Fargo region! Explore the full list of 2025 ChamberChoice Award winners and meet the organizations shaping our community’s future.
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