For most kids, having a party is a given when their birthday rolls around, but as Rachel Calabrese tells Rachael, other children whose families are homeless may often never have a chance to celebrate. "They've had maybe a run of bad luck," she says about the families, "or they have lost their house, been foreclosed on -- sometimes their house burned down and they have no immediate family." To help bring some fun and a bit of normalcy into these kids' lives, Rachel volunteers with an organization called Birthday Wishes, which throws birthday parties for homeless children and their families throughout 70 shelters in the Boston area.

Raised by a single mother, Rachel shares that although times were tough in her family, her mom always made sure they had birthday parties. "A lot of the people in the shelter have even harder times," she says, "and don't have that support system of family around them." In her six years as a volunteer, Rachel has been a part of 2,500 parties. In fact, she invests so much of her free time helping Birthday Wishes that her husband Gregory says her work has become like a fourth child to the couple. But Rachel shows no signs of slowing down. "Just to see the looks on their faces and the smiles," Rachel beams, "it just makes it all worth while."

In addition to sharing the same first name, Rachel admits that she has something else in common with Rachael Ray -- neither can bake! Most of the birthday cakes for the parties are donated by local bakeries or made by other volunteers, Rachel explains. But perhaps she can buy a few cakes with a surprise gift from Rachael of $10,000 for her organization!