A woman from San Antonio, Texas recently decided to celebrate her 30th birthday by throwing a party for 130 abused and neglected children at St. PJ’s Children’s Home.

Amanda Rico explained that she had initially planned to throw a normal birthday party for herself.

“My husband had asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday,” she said. “So I created a Pinterest board with things I wanted to do. I started to think about all the extravagant things I wanted to do — my birthday cake. I wanted to have mariachis, and I wanted them to serenade me.”

It was only when Amanda was reading the children’s book “Light Up the Darkness” to her young sons when she changed her mind.

“It says, ‘I was just a boy one winter’s night beneath my favorite tree. It was the night of my 12th birthday all alone as I can be. No cards, no cake, no candles, no presents wrapped for me, because no one threw a party for a little boy who couldn’t see,'” she explained.

This excerpt from the book completely changed the way Amanda thought of celebrating her birthday.

“I stopped and said, ‘Wow! Am I being selfish that I have been blessed with 30 wonderful years of life? And how many other children out there that do not have the opportunity to have a wonderful birthday or experience these great things?'” she recalled.

Amanda teamed up with friends and volunteers to surprise all of the children staying at St. PJ’s Children’s Home with a night that they will never forget.

“They thought they were just going to have a normal dinner and then go back for bath time and then back to their dorms,” Amanda said. “They got a lot more than that.”