Get your bake on: Make and decorate a cake for an underserved youth
Winston Gieseke
Palm Springs Desert Sun
Does the thought of a child without a birthday cake make you sad? Do you enjoy baking and decorating cakes? Are you looking for an easy way to make a child feel special and loved on his or her birthday?
Consider becoming a volunteer baker for Cake4Kids.
Cake4Kids is an 11-year-old nonprofit currently active in 13 states plus the District of Columbia that provides free birthday cakes, cupcakes, cookies, brownies and other baked goods to underserved youth and foster children, ages 1-24.
As the organization's website says: "On the surface, a birthday cake may seem like a trivial gesture in supporting the at-risk children in our local communities, but every cake is a way to let the children know they are valued. For children who are victims of human trafficking, domestic abuse or neglect, receiving a personal birthday sweet helps to bolster their confidence and self-esteem and encourages them to keep on."
Southern California native Ray Biller recently started a Coachella Valley chapter of Cake4Kids and is looking for volunteers. The organization, which began this month, has already partnered with agencies such as the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center, Olive Crest, the East Valley LGBT Center and the Boys & Girls Club.
"This organization started up in the Bay area," Biller says. "In September 2010, a woman named Libby Gruender came up with the idea that every kid should have a cake for a special event. Sadly, she died three years after starting the program but her legacy carries on."
There are currently more than 800 Cake4Kids volunteers in the Bay Area.
While living in San Diego, Biller learned about the organization from his sister. "I love to cook and bake, and she said I would be perfect for this. Every time I dropped off one of my cakes, it felt good."
Volunteering is easy. All you need to do is sign up to make a specific dessert based on a request or theme, then bake and decorate on your schedule in the comfort of your own kitchen. When the sweets are complete, you deliver them to the local social services agency that requested them, Monday-Friday during business hours.
Volunteers do not have contact with the children they bake for.
There is no time commitment. Volunteers can bake one cake per year or 10.
Biller is passionate about the organization and its mission. "I grew up with birthday cakes every year on my birthday," he says, "and I always appreciated them, so I thought 'I need to be doing this for these kids as well.'"
Interesting in volunteering your baking skills? Cake4Kids will be hosting a local in-person volunteer orientation, which will last an hour to 90 minutes, on July 23. Learn more at cake4kids.org/volunteer
Questions? Email volcor@cake4kids.org.
Link to article
In brief: Let them eat cake
Produced By Kendall Balchan & Mark Talkington
Starting in June, the Coachella Valley will be home to a chapter of Cake4Kids, an organization that bakes and delivers free birthday cakes to underserved kids who might not otherwise get one.
Bringing back birthdays: When you’re a kid, the whole kid universe revolves around the winter holidays, Halloween, and your birthday.
But for young people in underserved communities, those hallmarks of childhood may be missed.
The cause: Cake4Kids serves children from all walks of life, focusing on kids in foster care, in group homes, survivors of domestic violence or human trafficking, living in low-income housing with or without a parent, or even unhoused kids.
Local impact: The soon-to-launch Coachella Valley chapter has so far partnered with the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center, Olivecrest Foster programs, The LGBT Center in East Valley, and the Boys and Girls Club.
What’s next: Now that the groundwork is laid, organizers are asking for volunteers who can help bake cakes, cupcakes, cookies, or brownies for these kids.
Volunteers can choose how often and which cakes they want to bake.
For more information: Call Ray Biller, the Coachella Valley Ambassador for Cake4Kids at 760-671-0107 or reach out online here.
Read more about how the organization got started in 2010 in the Bay Area.
Sheryl's Good Deeds - Cake4Kids
Mix96 in Sacramento recently featured Cake4Kids in their Sheryl’s Good Deeds program. Sheryl interviewed Leigh Ann Higa, our Cake4Kids Sacramento Ambassador. Watch the video below!
We’ve teamed up with JustServe.org to motivate service in the Sacramento community! This week, we learn more about Cake4Kids, an amazing and compassionate group of volunteers who donate all the ingredients and supplies needed to bake birthday cakes for underserved kids who might not otherwise get one.
Cake4Kids brings dessert to underserved youth
Fairfax County Times
By Laura Scudder
January 14, 2022
Northern Virginia’s chapter has served nearly 2,000 cakes since 2019
From birthdays to graduation celebrations, one organization has the cake covered for underserved youth. Cake4Kids in Northern Virginia partners with 80-90 agencies in the area, creating cakes for special events. After almost three years, they have about 500 volunteers who have all baked and delivered nearly 2,000 cakes.
Cake4Kids was originally founded in California by Libby Gruender. Mary Campbell, the Cake4Kids ambassador for Northern Virginia, learned of the organization and reached out to see how she could become involved.
Northern Virginia became the first chapter outside of California in 2019, and Campbell now works for the national organization in operations.
“It’s gotten extremely big and busy quickly. We have just a great community here of people that want to help, and it’s just kind of blown up,” she explained, also saying that the company has expanded into other states.
Campbell explained that the kids and youth range from 1-24 years old. She noted that this was due to the fact that the chapter followed California’s guidelines about what signifies the age of transition to adulthood.
Campbell said that the children get to choose the flavor and theme of their cake — and it can be as elaborate or simple as they wish. Bakers will then sign up to bake and deliver the cake.
“Our bakers, who are tremendous … a lot of them will watch and see if there’s cakes still sitting there, and they’re hell-bent on making sure that every child gets their cake and that we don’t cancel,” she said. “I’ll get emails that say ‘Don’t cancel that cake, I’ll take it’ … Here in Northern Virginia, we have never canceled on a child. So we’ve delivered every single one and the bakers are very supportive of each other.”
While she credits all the bakers for being creative and taking great care with each cake, Campbell said that she has seen some truly amazing designs — including a cake that looked like a bowl of baked beans.
In general, Cake4Kids will ask for about two weeks to bake a cake, though they have pulled things together sooner. For Campbell, baking for as many people as possible is important.
“I think that is one of the biggest rewards for me to know that we’re helping families and we’re bringing smiles to the children. We’re making a lot of kids happy,” she said.
Those looking to volunteer can go to the website to sign up — and all levels of baking experience are welcome, Campbell noted.
She said that not everyone can make a baked bean cake, but if you have basic decorating abilities the help is welcome. All bakers provide their own ingredients and materials.
“We do reimburse our bakers up to $100 a year on decorating classes. A lot of our bakers, take cookie decorating and cake decorating, and things like that. So even … if you don’t feel you’re at that level, a lot of baker’s start at cookies and brownies and cupcakes and work their way up to the cakes and take classes in between. So we’re happy to have all abilities,” Campbell explained.
She also noted that the caseworkers do their best to provide feedback from the celebrations and that sometimes bakers receive thank you notes from the children themselves.
Smiles and Birthday Cakes
Comcast Newsmaker
By Emily Gyure
Thursday, April 21, 2022
Helping to bring smiles & birthday cakes is the goal of Cake4Kids who bakes and delivers free birthday cakes for underserved children who might not otherwise receive one. These individual customized cakes remind children how special they really are.
Hosted By: Ellee Pai Hong
Produces By: Greater Chicago Newsmaker Team
Organization provides birthday cake for children who would otherwise go without
KMTV 3 News Now Omaha
By Mary Nelson
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — For kids in foster care, who are living in group homes, are homeless, or have survived the unimaginable, birthday cake may not be top-of-mind.
But at Cake4Kids, it's understood how powerful that can be.
The organization has 20 chapters nationwide. Stacy Newmaster became the Omaha area's Cake4Kids ambassador last year.
Speaking about the impact the program has on children's lives, she said, "It puts a smile on their face and it gives them the self-esteem that somebody cares. It may not be anybody that they know, but somebody does care."
The organization works with partners including foster care agencies, homeless and domestic violence shelters and refugee organizations, which all make sure the cakes get to the children.
Last year, Cake4Kids received more than 8,800 requests nationwide. By adding chapters, like Omaha's, they hope to serve more children in 2022.
"Some of our volunteers are cottage bakers," Newmaster said. "Even ones that own bakeries are allowed to help out, too, or be volunteers. So it's just anybody and everybody."
In addition to volunteers, Newmaster would like to connect with local children's organizations and agencies. For that, and to donate to Cake4Kids, visit cake4kids.org.
Baking birthday cakes for kids who otherwise would have none
CBS 2 Idaho News
By Brent Hunsaker
Wednesday, November 24, 2021
This birthday cake was presented to Interfaith Sanctuary's Family Shelter for a 6-year-old girl's birthday. Cake4Kids volunteers will bake a cake for any child in foster care or in shelters in the Treasure Valley.
NAMPA, Idaho (CBS 2) — “The cake we’re baking today is for a young girl who is six,” explained Mabry Brice, a volunteer baker with Cake4Kids.
Mabry Brice starts with a cake mix. No sin with that. But beyond the usual eggs and oil, Mabry adds her own touches such as milk instead of water and a 2/3 cup of sour cream. She said, “It just helps to enhance the flavors.”
The bakers donate both time and materials. There’s no reimbursement for the ingredients. Everything they use to make the cakes comes out of their own pantry and is paid for with their own money.
“I have five kids. And I love kids. So, to make a kid happy is kind of what I live for.”
The program impressed Courtney DeYager, a foster mom who recently got a cake for one of the girls in her care. “On the one hand, it’s just a cake,” said Courtney. “But on the other hand, you open up that box and this kiddo’s face lights up because their name is spelled out in icing with ‘Happy Birthday’ and figurines that they asked for. It’s really special.”
Cake4Kids volunteers receive a $500 Pay It Forward from Angela Phillips with Mountain America Credit Union.
Courtney nominated Cake4Kids for a Pay It Forward.
Receiving the $500 donation from Angela Phillips with Mountain America Credit Union were Tracy Privari and Gwen Clark, the Cake4Kids ambassadors in the Treasure Valley. They started the Treasure Valley chapter back in February.
Gwen said, “I’m the behind-the-scenes girl. I’m helping partner with the agencies and I’m helping recruit bakers.”
In just a short time, Gwen and Tracy have signed on more than 100 bakers. “And we could use more,” said Tracy. “You have to have more bakers than you’re ever going to have requests. So that’s why we’re always recruiting volunteers.”
No back to Mabry’s cake. After sitting overnight in the freezer, it’s ready for the frosting and the decorations. For that, she’s enlisted her 17-year-old daughter, Amberly. She will create the princess, flowers, and other features that will “wow” the birthday girl.
Mother and daughter both took a class in cake design, but Mabry admits her daughter is the artist.
The next day, the cake is delivered to the Interfaith Sanctuary in Boise. Carla Velez, the family shelter program supervisor said, “We love Cake4Kids. Basically, it allows them to be home, to feel that they are important, not just for their parents and family, but also for the entire program. They get to share this with other kids in our program, with other families. It gets the kids out of their rooms. They get together in the dining room and share. I think that’s the most important thing: Being able to have access to these delicious cakes every month.”
COVID and privacy concerns prevent Mabry from giving the cake directly to the child or even seeing the birthday party. Still, the satisfaction of a cake well made and just knowing how it will make that child smile is reward enough. Mabry told us, “It’s not about the recognition. It’s just about knowing that someone is happy cakes make everyone happy.”
If you would like to join the ranks of Cake4Kids volunteers, just click here.
'Everybody deserves a smile on their birthday' | These volunteer bakers are making sure every child's birthday is special
WUSA9 Washington, D.C.
By Marcella Robertson
Wednesday, November 3, 2021 6:51 am EDT (Updated November 3, 2021 8:31 am EDT)
Hundreds of people in Virginia bake free cakes for children who may not otherwise get a cake on their birthday. They are part of the non-profit, Cake4Kids.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Some of the smallest things we take for granted can mean the world to someone else. Something as simple as a birthday cake.
Cake4Kids is a non-profit organization that originally started in California. But when Mary Campbell heard about their mission, she knew she had to bring it to Northern Virginia.
"It really struck me that there are children out there that don't get birthday cakes. It struck me as a mom too, it must be awful to not be able to get your child a cake," said Campbell, who brought the organization to Virginia in 2019.
The non-profit partners with organizations that help children. They provide cakes free of cost for children on their birthday or if they are celebrating a big accomplishment. The organization started with a focus mainly on children in foster care. Over the years they have expanded to help children who are refugees, or even those in domestic violence shelters.
"Really any place where a child hasn't had the best start in life, we deliver birthday cakes to them," said Julie Eades, with the California Cake4Kids chapter.
It's National Volunteer Week, a time to appreciate the power of volunteer service & celebrate our volunteer bakers 👩🍳💫Thanks to all who've donated money, time, or goods to Cake4Kids. If you enjoy baking & have a bit of spare time to give back check us out https://t.co/ir3lBLcsJz pic.twitter.com/xGfhf1y6gh
— Cake4Kids.org (@Cake4Kids) April 10, 2019
Kate McKenzie is one of the 450 volunteer bakers in Virginia. The kids can pick out their theme and flavor and the hundreds of people who volunteer their time, execute their vision. McKenzie, who first joined the organization right before the pandemic, says the most important ingredient is love.
"They don't have to be perfect. You don't have to be a professional baker. Box mixes and sprinkle some love on top and you're going to make this kid's life very happy," she said.
For some of the children, it is the first birthday cake they have ever received. A sweet gesture that will stick with some of these kids for the rest of their lives.
"A birthday cake might feel like a luxury. Let us give you that. Let us help. These kids deserve it and it makes them smile. Everybody deserves to smile on their birthday," McKenzie said.
Cake4Kids Northern Virginia is working on expanding to Prince William County. The organization is always in need of bakers but is also looking for more organizations to partner with to be able to reach more children.
Organization Bakes Cakes for Underserved Kids in Northern Virginia
NBC4 Washington
Wednesday, August 18, 8:31 pm
One local organization is making sure every child can celebrate their birthday! #HarrisHeroes @Cake4Kids @RealLeonHarris pic.twitter.com/AC4lHZigqg
— Michelle Montgomery (@Chelle_Francis) August 23, 2021
Cake4Kids was featured on the popular NBC4 Washington segment Harris’ Heroes! Every week, veteran Washington anchor Leon Harris shines the spotlight on the work that’s being done by people and organizations to make where we live a little brighter.
Cake4Kids Baker Melissa Brown Featured in Fairfax, VA's June 2021 "Cityscene" Newsletter!
Cake4Kids Baker Melissa Brown was recently featured in Fairfax, VA’s June 2021 issue of the "Cityscene” newsletter as a “City Samaritan” — recognizing residents who lift up their community — for her volunteer work with Cake4Kids!
Check out the feature on pages 3-5 of the newsletter here or download the PDF here!
Utah volunteers bake custom birthday desserts for underserved children
KSL.com
By Megan Christensen
Wednesday, May 18, 2021 8:09 pm
OGDEN — Volunteers in northern Utah are helping underserved children and youth celebrate their birthdays by baking them their very own, custom-made desserts for their special day.
Cake4Kids, a nonprofit organization, opened a Northern Utah chapter on April 8. According to its ambassador, Becky Carroll, the children who qualify for these cakes are in foster care, domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters and low-income after-school programs.
Carroll contacts agencies that work with these children, and the caseworkers from the agencies will then reach out to the kids to find out what birthday treat they would like. One little boy requested granola bars. Another little girl wanted strawberry flamingo cupcakes.
"I think that, as adults, we often don't enjoy celebrating our birthday as much. We forget that it's a really important thing for kids, and especially kids who are in difficult situations," Carroll said…
KSL.com
By Megan Christensen
Wednesday, May 18, 2021 8:09 pm
OGDEN — Volunteers in northern Utah are helping underserved children and youth celebrate their birthdays by baking them their very own, custom-made desserts for their special day.
Cake4Kids, a nonprofit organization, opened a Northern Utah chapter on April 8. According to its ambassador, Becky Carroll, the children who qualify for these cakes are in foster care, domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters and low-income after-school programs.
Carroll contacts agencies that work with these children, and the caseworkers from the agencies will then reach out to the kids to find out what birthday treat they would like. One little boy requested granola bars. Another little girl wanted strawberry flamingo cupcakes.
"I think that, as adults, we often don't enjoy celebrating our birthday as much. We forget that it's a really important thing for kids, and especially kids who are in difficult situations," Carroll said.
"Their birthdays can be forgotten or just totally ignored, and so to honor them with something that they specifically chose — and we always put their name on the cake — I think it just helps to help them have a special day and a happy memory around birthdays, rather than just being in a shelter and having it be forgotten."
Carroll pointed out that some of these kids are taken out of their homes and don't take their possessions with them, so to have a birthday cake made especially for them helps them have a good day.
Elise Dearing decorates birthday cupcakes for an underserved child as part of a new nonprofit organization, Cake4Kids. (Photo: Elise Dearing)
For privacy reasons, the volunteers are only told the first name and the age of the child they are baking for. They then drop the treat off at the agencies, Carroll said.
The volunteers do not need to be professional bakers, though they should have acceptable decorating abilities.
Volunteer Myranda Hackley found a love for cake decorating a few years ago while working at the Walmart bakery. She quit that job to go to school but participates in Cake4Kids to keep up her creativity and to help these children have a great birthday and get a deserved treat.
Hackley said when she dropped off her first two cakes, the caseworkers were giddy with excitement.
"I'm excited to keep baking, and I'm really happy to take on more of these cakes for the future," Hackley said.
These cupcakes were baked by a Cake4Kids volunteer for an underserved child on their birthday. The new-to-Utah nonprofit organization provides custom-made desserts for underserved children on their birthdays. (Photo: Jill Scharrenberg)
Katy Bonds, executive director of the Box Elder Family Support Center, said the mother of the girl who requested pink flamingo cupcakes was thrilled to receive that service and that the cupcakes were a hit.
"The parents are so grateful," Bonds said. "And it's such a surprise, a pleasant surprise, to get a free birthday cake. Because cakes are expensive, and a lot of our families that we are talking to don't have a lot of money for a cake, so this is like a huge burden to take off their shoulders. So it's a blessing to them."
Those who are interested in volunteering for Cake4Kids can visit cakes4kids.org and go through an hourlong online orientation. Donations are also accepted by visiting the website.
Agencies that would like to work with Cake4Kids to get cakes to children in their community can email Carroll at becky@cake4kids.org. The Northern Utah chapter covers from Ogden to Logan.
—-
Cake4Kids Boulder seeks more bakers to create sweet memories for foster, homeless kids
The Daily Camera
By April Morganroth
Monday, May 17, 2021 8:25 pm (Updated May 18, 2021 11:27 am)
Amy Klein, Cakes4Kids ambassador for Northern Colorado, sits for a portrait in her kitchen at her home in Niwot on Monday. The organization makes and donates birthday cakes to foster kids. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)
Boulder-based Cake4Kids is expanding and looking for bakers to help create birthday and graduation cakes for youth in domestic violence and homeless shelters as well as foster kids.
Ambassador of Northern Colorado Cake4Kids Amy Klein said the Boulder chapter of Cake4Kids is expanding and in need of help in addition to donations.
“Some of our bakers bake once a month and some have already baked 25 or more cakes, but we just really need more volunteers willing to bake for these kids,” Klein said.
She added, “It could just be that special spark in any kiddo’s life, whose life probably hasn’t been overly fair to them up to this point — we can provide some magic for one day.”
Klein was introduced last summer by a friend to the national nonprofit and by the fall she had the first Colorado chapter up and running.
“We made our first delivery in November and since then have delivered over 250 cakes and treats to underserved kids in the greater Boulder area,” Klein said.
Cake4Kids started more than 10 years ago in California by Libby Gruender who in 2010 had read a news story about a recently placed foster girl who had never received a birthday cake until her foster mother made her one. Since that day, Gruender partnered with volunteers and agencies across the U.S. to bake cakes for underserved children.
Now, spanning across 11 states, the nonprofit has delivered more than 25,000 free birthday and graduation cakes.
Klein, a mother of three, said she volunteered to open the first Colorado chapter because “birthday cakes are magical for children and it motivated me as a mom to bring that same smile I see on my children’s faces to the faces of other kids who otherwise may not have gotten a birthday cake.”
“We believe the simple gesture of a birthday cake has the ability to make the child feel valued and raises self-esteem,” she said.
Some of the agencies Northern Colorado Cake4Kids serve include: A Precious Child; Access Opportunity; Sister Carmen Community Center; TGHTR (formerly Attention Homes); as well as several domestic violence shelters and homeless shelters.
“Right now we are working on expanding our chapter into Fort Collins and beyond and also looking for bakers who want to help us serve our community,” Klein said. “The cakes are completely customized to the child and it’s so fun to see what they come up with.”
She said the top cake design requests include unicorns and Denver sports teams.
Despite kick starting during the coronavirus pandemic, Klein said the support from the community has been “truly amazing and we’re thrilled because people have stepped up in incredible ways.”
Auguste Escoffier School Of Culinary Arts in Boulder scheduled webinars “for our bakers to teach them how to bake better and provided decoration tips — like for example the frosted lettering on the cakes.”
In December, Niwot-based DRF Team real estate partnered up with Klein to host a gingerbread house contest and donated the proceeds to the nonprofit so it could provide treats during the holidays to foster youth.
She said, “We are still fairly new and looking into a number of different ways to expand and fundraise but will be partnering with DRF Reality again this Christmas season.”
Klein said she wants residents who are thinking about about volunteering “to know that you don’t have to be a pastry chef or professional baker to be one of our volunteers — you just have to have basic baking skills and have the heart to serve these kids.”
“The hardest part is not seeing the joy in these kids faces because we don’t get to delivery the cakes to them personally due to privacy laws but knowing that a child is smiling because of a cake we made is by far rewarding in itself,” Klein said.
—-
Tinker and Bake Blog Post featuring Cake4Kids: Bags, Tips and Couplers...Oh My!
Meghann Shaffer, a Chef Instructor with the Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, and owner of Blackbird Baking Company in Fort Collins, CO, recently shared great baking tips for piping borders and flowers and creating beautiful lettering with the Cake4Kids bakers in Northern Colorado.
Her recent blog post covers some great tips and mentions Cake4Kids!
Check it out on her page here: https://tinkerandbake.com/2021/05/16/bags-tips-and-couplers-oh-my/
Find out how these volunteers make a difference by baking cakes
ABC4 Salt Lake City
By Michelle Nguyen, Nicea DeGering
Wednesday, May 12, 2021 10:44 am
Becky Carroll, Northern Utah Ambassador for Cake4Kids came by to talk about their amazing program.
Volunteer Bakers bake and deliver cakes to underserved children and youth. These children and youth are often in homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, foster care, low-income families, and other difficult situations. Cake4Kids started in 2010 in California when a woman named Libby Gruender read an article about a foster girl becoming emotional upon receiving her first birthday cake. Cake4Kids has spread to 11 States now, with the Northern Utah Chapter being the first in Utah
Becky’s Grandparents did Foster Care for over 30 years, and their service left an impression on her. She wanted a way to use her set of skills and interests to help out as well. Becky discovered Cake4Kids in December of 2020, just a few days before her birthday. She reached out to the organization asking if opening a Utah Chapter was something we could do. Four months later they opened, and their chapter is now partnered with 8 agencies and they are delivering smiles to children and youth one birthday cake at a time.
Cake4Kids also recognizes that other special times in a child’s life sometimes go uncelebrated. So, their volunteers also bake treats for graduations, adoptions, and seasonal celebrations
They are always looking to partner with more agencies that serve children and youth. Teens 16-17 can volunteer with an adult, 18 and older can volunteer on their own.
Visit www.cake4kids.org to sign up as a volunteer, or to learn how to open up a chapter in your area.
—-
Birthday cakes for all: Utah non-profit strives to serve underprivileged children
ABC4 Salt Lake City
By Reem Ikram
Friday, April 30, 2021 2:33 pm (Updated April 30, 2021 02:46 PM)
LOGAN, Utah (ABC4) – Growing up in an internet-savvy world with many seemingly pitted against each other on social media can already be hard enough on America’s youth. But for underprivileged children today, those challenges are even more amplified.
A local non-profit located in Northern Utah, Cake4Kids, is determined to change that.
Cake4Kids is an organization that bakes and delivers birthday cakes for underserved children. According to the team, this demographic includes children who may be in group homes, at a domestic violence or human trafficking shelter, in low-income housing, with or without a parent, or even homeless.
“A personalized cake is something that, as adults, we forget how much it means to a child,” shares Becky Carroll, Cake4Kids Northern Utah ambassador. “Many people want to help children in need. Cake4Kids allows people to use their skills and resources to make children feel special and create a positive birthday memory…”
ABC4 Salt Lake City
By Reem Ikram
Friday, April 30, 2021 2:33 pm (Updated April 30, 2021 02:46 PM)
LOGAN, Utah (ABC4) – Growing up in an internet-savvy world with many seemingly pitted against each other on social media can already be hard enough on America’s youth. But for underprivileged children today, those challenges are even more amplified.
A local non-profit located in Northern Utah, Cake4Kids, is determined to change that.
Cake4Kids is an organization that bakes and delivers birthday cakes for underserved children. According to the team, this demographic includes children who may be in group homes, at a domestic violence or human trafficking shelter, in low-income housing, with or without a parent, or even homeless.
“A personalized cake is something that, as adults, we forget how much it means to a child,” shares Becky Carroll, Cake4Kids Northern Utah ambassador. “Many people want to help children in need. Cake4Kids allows people to use their skills and resources to make children feel special and create a positive birthday memory.”
The non-profit is made up of volunteers who are mostly home-bakers. According to the team, there is no minimum commitment, and those who participate can choose how often they bake and which cakes they want to create on top of that.
After volunteers finish their piece, they then deliver it to one of the Cake4Kids partner agencies that support the youth.
“Our volunteers never meet the children we support, but every cake is custom-made for each child and an enormous amount of love is baked into each one,” shares Cake4Kids.
Since 2010, the organization has baked and delivered over 24,000 cakes nationwide.
If you are interested on volunteering, starting another Utah Chapter, or would like more information, click here.
—-
Northern Utah non-profit provides birthday treats for underserved kids
Fox13 Salt Lake City
By Sydney Glenn
Thursday, April 29, 2021 10:06 pm
LOGAN, Utah — The non-profit Cake4Kids is trying to make sure underserved children in Utah feel special on their birthday and are able to have something just for them: any birthday treat they want.
Each year thousands of kids spend time in Utah’s foster care system. Others spend time in domestic violence shelters or homeless shelters.
Last year, Becky Carroll was scrolling through Instagram and came across the Cake4Kids page.
“When I saw these cakes were going to foster children I just knew I had to be part of it,” she said.
Her plan was to volunteer. She loves to bake and since her grandparents were foster parents she has a special place in her heart foster children.
“I went to sign up as a volunteer, but they did not have any chapters in Utah,” she said.
In Dec. Carroll started the Northern Utah chapter of the non-profit. After months of working to partner with agencies, the chapter has been able to help two Utah children celebrate birthdays. One child requested a blue cake, the other brownies.
“In foster care sometimes, these kids are taken out of a home with a garbage bag that has their stuff in it, so to get something that was made just for them means a lot to them,” she said.
In college student Cooper Parry’s apartment, he has spent several days and hours perfecting the perfect birthday treat.
“I am doing my very best, but yes, I am not a professional what so ever,” he said.
He credits his family and him time working at a boys home for his passion to help others. With some help from his girlfriend and Pinterest, Parry decided to make brownies that look like ice cream cones for a child in need.
“I know nothing about them, just that it is some kid that needs a little something for their birthday and that’s all that I know,” he said and he finished decorating the birthday treats.
For more information on how to volunteer, or start another Utah chapter, click here.
—-
Cake4Kids Comes to Boston Area
The Somerville Times
By Denise Keniston
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Cake4Kids is a nonprofit that provides custom birthday and celebration cakes to underserved children. They have delivered thousands of cakes to kids all over the country and Boston is ready to get in on the sweetness!
Professional pastry chef Tali Pinnolis is the ambassador for the new Boston area chapter. She says a lot of families struggle to celebrate birthdays. “Imagine growing up…
The Somerville Times
By Denise Keniston
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Cake4Kids is looking for volunteer bakers and agencies with underserved kids.
Cake4Kids is a nonprofit that provides custom birthday and celebration cakes to underserved children. They have delivered thousands of cakes to kids all over the country and Boston is ready to get in on the sweetness!
Professional pastry chef Tali Pinnolis is the ambassador for the new Boston area chapter. She says a lot of families struggle to celebrate birthdays. “Imagine growing up never having a birthday cake. For the majority of us, the thought is difficult, if not inconceivable, to imagine,” says Pinnolis. “With the COVID pandemic, especially, many families are so strapped for time, money and energy that celebrating a child’s birthday is out of reach.”
Cake4Kids was founded in 2010 by the late Libby Gruender in Sunnyvale, California and now has eight chapters, including Boston. The organization connects with its recipients through social workers or agency caseworkers, who learn the preferred flavors and themes for a child’s desired birthday cake. Then it finds a volunteer to bake, decorate and deliver that cake.
Professional pastry chef Tali Pinnolis, Ambassador Cake4Kids Boston Chapter.
Somerville’s Winter Hill Community Innovation School is one of the first to get on board. Marah Paley, a clinical social worker at the school, says Cake4Kids is a great idea. “We’re very excited to have to program roll out this Spring and start providing some of our kids with birthday cakes.” She continues, “A lot of kids here will be so happy to have a cake made especially for them – it’s really a wonderful thing.”
Pinnolis’ Boston Chapter is currently recruiting bakers who will be carefully vetted for security and safety protocols. She says, “You do not need to be a professional baker to volunteer. There is also no minimum cake baking requirement for volunteers, which means you can decide to bake 1 cake or 50 cakes, whatever works for your schedule.” She adds, “It’s most important that our bakers put their best skills to use and have the cake delivered to the office on time.”
Pinnolis has been preparing for her role as Boston Chapter ambassador for months. She talks to other chapters weekly who share their experiences. “They hear over and over again from the youth, ‘I can’t believe someone took the time out of their day to make something just for me. I feel so incredibly special, and I don’t often feel that way,’” says Pinnolis.
Volunteer bakers must be at least 18-years-old (or 16, if with a parent volunteer), be a good baker (not necessarily pro-level, but decent with proficient decorating skills) and be able to deliver the decorated cake to a Cake4Kids agency during a specified time window.
Spots are filling up fast for the first virtual volunteer baker orientation on May 4. Sign up at https://www.cake4kids.org/volunteer-form.
—-
Delivering Platefuls of Love During Tough Times
Loudoun Now
By Jan Mercker
Thursday, April 1, 2021
When times are tough, sometimes it’s the little things that mean the most.A home-cooked meal or a custom birthday cake can bring joy. Two recently launched Loudoun organizations are filling bellies and creating community—one meal and one cake at a time.
Cake Love from Cake4Kids
Baking enthusiast Dottie Swanson launched the Loudoun chapter of Cake4Kids last August. Cake4Kids also is a national nonprofit launched in 2010 to provide special occasion cakes and treats for children in need, including kids in shelters and foster care. The concept is to connect volunteer bakers with children to bring sweetness and joy to special occasions in the face of big problems like homelessness and job loss…
Loudoun Now
By Jan Mercker
Thursday, April 1, 2021
When times are tough, sometimes it’s the little things that mean the most.A home-cooked meal or a custom birthday cake can bring joy. Two recently launched Loudoun organizations are filling bellies and creating community—one meal and one cake at a time.
Cake Love from Cake4Kids
Dottie Swanson is the ambassador of the Cake4Kids Loudoun chapter.
Baking enthusiast Dottie Swanson launched the Loudoun chapter of Cake4Kids last August. Cake4Kids also is a national nonprofit launched in 2010 to provide special occasion cakes and treats for children in need, including kids in shelters and foster care. The concept is to connect volunteer bakers with children to bring sweetness and joy to special occasions in the face of big problems like homelessness and job loss.
“Think about your life—you have a cake for every event…Some of these children have never had a birthday cake,” Swanson said. “To know that there’s somebody in their community that they don’t know, that they’ll never meet, made them a custom birthday cake. It helps the children, and it helps the family, too.”
Swanson, who lives in Willowsford, is a hobby baker whose passion for baking was passed on from her grandfather, a cook in the U.S. Army during World War II. Swanson got involved with the Cake4Kids Northern Virginia chapter as a baker and volunteered to coordinate the launch of the Loudoun chapter last year. Cake4Kids doesn’t take direct orders. Instead, the organization works with social service agencies around Loudoun to match clients with bakers, including the Sterling-based nonprofit INMED Partnerships for Children.
“They’re doing an amazing job,” said INMED’s Rosa Tobar, who adds that for many of her clients, a personalized birthday cake is a luxury they can’t afford, as COVID-related job loss and other factors create challenges. Tobar helps coordinate cake pick-ups for her clients and said she was especially touched when one young client got the LOL doll cake of her dreams.
“Her eyes just opened wide as soon as she saw it,” Tobar said.
Cake4Kids now has 75 Loudoun-based bakers on board and another 75 in the region who deliver to Loudoun. Volunteers are mostly home bakers, but the group includes professionals, too. Bakers offer gorgeous and delicious cakes, along with brownies, cookies and other goodies for graduations and other special events. Since launching last summer, the group has delivered 115 “bakes” of all kinds and is ready to serve more kids through partner agencies. Swanson says that as new volunteers come on board, the chapter is ready to take on additional agency partners and hopes more organizations will reach out so that she and her bakers can help brighten special days for more Loudoun kids.
Swanson says that when she’s baking for Cake4Kids, she often puts two days into each project.
“A lot goes into those cakes,” Swanson said. “Driving away after delivering a cake, it is so worth it: the joy of knowing that I’ve helped a child on their birthday.”
For more information, go to cake4kids.org/our-chapters-loudoun. Caseworkers and volunteer bakers can also contact Swanson atdottie@cake4kids.org.
—-