Life, as of Late

I’ve been looking for meaningful ways to get involved with and give back in my community. This past year has been difficult for many, and I wanted to set an example for my children of what it looks like to be in service to others. Thanks to social media, finding various local organizations local has become easier than ever.

I came across a TikTok of a woman baking cakes for an organization called Cake4Kids. This organization is made up of a network of bakers who bake, decorate, and deliver baked goods to underserved youth in their community, who might not otherwise receive a birthday or celebratory cake. If you follow me on any of my platforms, you probably know that I have a tradition of baking my children’s birthday cakes. It’s something that I truly love to do for them, and is so special to see their reaction to the final product.

Once I discovered this incredible organization, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. They’re only active in a handful of states, but thankfully, my home state of Utah is one of them.

To start, I completed the Volunteer Form. After my volunteer application was reviewed, I received an email with an invitation to the ~hour long online orientation. This is held via zoom call and is required by all volunteers prior to baking. The zoom call was incredibly informative and warmed my heart to see the amount of participants on my specific call (close to 100).

Following orientation, I completed a short required quiz and was then provided access to the baker portal and approved to bake and deliver in my area!

I immediately scoped the cake requests in my portal, and found a cake within my skillset. It was a request for a chocolate soccer-themed birthday cake for a child in my area. I was so excited to begin baking and looked up inspiration on Pinterest and TikTok for guidance.

Once completed, I took a few photos of the final product, packaged the cake up according to the requirements of the organization, and personally delivered the cake to the provided address. One of my favorite things about Cake4Kids is how organized it is. The baker portal offers several resources regarding guidelines and best practices and emails with reminders, baking and delivery instructions, and more. The entire process is very seamless, making it so simple to get involved and give back to local youth.

Since joining, I’ve baked a total of two cakes for kids, and am scheduled to bake and deliver a third in January. My goal is to bake one cake per month. I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience and can’t wait to do more!