Since they were small, Ian and Hanna Weeks have asked their birthday guests to help support a local organization instead of focusing on presents.
Their parents, Katie and Jason Weeks, call the tradition "Birthday Give Backs." The list has grown. Past birthdays collected school supplies for Ballantyne Elementary, 550 dental kits for Classroom Central, 110 sports balls for Ronald McDonald House, winter wear for OurBRIDGE for Kids and baking supplies for Habitat for Humanity. Hanna's 2023 birthday brought in 107 blankets and stuffed animals for Levine Cancer Institute. Her 2026 Give Back raised $521 for Blumenthal Performing Arts' Junior Theater Festival.
The habit reaches past the kids' birthdays. During Katie's cancer treatment, the family made more than 44 cancer care packages in honor of her 44th birthday. "We hope they grow up knowing that giving feels good and that even a birthday party can be a chance to care for someone else," Katie says.
Finding home
Katie, Jason, Ian, 12, and Hanna, 10, moved to Charlotte in 2020. Katie grew up in Wisconsin and Jason is from the Twin Cities. His career took them to Raleigh in 2015 and then to Charlotte. "Ballantyne felt like a place where we could put down roots and become part of a community," Katie says. "The people we've met here have made it feel like home."
Those roots now include the children's schools, sports, the arts and Ballantyne Country Club. Ian, a seventh grader at Cato Ridge, plays on the school golf team and likes mountain biking. Hanna, a fifth grader at Ballantyne Elementary, is happiest on or near a stage.
The family learned how much those connections could mean when Katie was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022. She had seven surgeries. Throughout her treatment, friends and neighbors stepped in with meals, gifts and encouragement. "We felt cared for when we needed it most," Katie says.
Work, travel and the theater
Jason works in human resources and leads the North American HR function at JELD-WEN. He has a psychology degree from Gustavus Adolphus College.
Katie studied theatre and communication at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and is a senior advisor with Armstrong McGuire, a nonprofit consulting firm. Drawing on about 25 years of nonprofit experience, she helps organizations through leadership transitions, executive searches and interim leadership. The issue's Making a Difference page says she is leading the search for the next CEO of Crisis Assistance Ministry.
The two met in Milwaukee after Jason's work moved him there from Minnesota in 2007. Katie says Jason made a few strategic wagers that resulted in him "winning" a few dates. Three years later they married in the Dominican Republic. Their honeymoon took them to New Zealand and Bora Bora, where crossing the International Date Line let them celebrate New Year's Eve twice.
Family trips since have included Cancun, Puerto Rico, Amelia Island and the Bahamas, plus an RV trip through the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Zion. Jason, an avid golfer, likes courses on Top 100 lists, with a few spas worked into the itinerary for Katie. Ian has inherited the golf habit, and the two are planning father-son trips.
Katie and Hanna have a tradition of their own. After a family trip to New York City showed that the girls liked the city considerably more than the boys did, they began an annual January birthday trip built around seeing as many shows as possible. A snowstorm once extended a trip long enough for seven shows in five days. Hanna plans to appear in five shows this year with the Morrison Youth Theatre.
Six years in, the Weeks family has what they hoped for when they chose Ballantyne: a place where their children could grow up surrounded by community, and a habit of being there for others.
This story appears in the November 2026 issue of Stroll Ballantyne Country Club. Read the full edition here.