

Sift magazine celebrates baking from the heart. We'd like to share one of our favorite tales of bakers reaching out and making a difference. Follow along with Julia A. Reed on her trip to Austin, TX, to capture the magic that happens at a wonderful organization called Bake a Wish.
Kim Penson hasnât even had a chance to step out of her car at a local Austin, TX shelter for families, before sheâs surrounded by a crowd of excited children.
âDelivery! Delivery!â they yell out. âIs that Daylineâs cake? Itâs her birthday!â they exclaim.
Kim tells them that it is, and they jump up and down, covering their mouths in an impossible attempt to contain their elated giggles.
Kim follows the kids towards the door, where she's greeted by the shelter's director, Patti. All eyes are on the cake box as Kim gently opens the lid. The requested theme was Monsters Inc., and the cake is adorned with tiny handmade characters from the movie. Itâs two-tiered, and covered in perfectly applied fondant. At the bottom: the birthday girlâs name.
âThis is so beautiful!â Patti exclaims. âHang on, I want Daylineâs mom to see.â She walks out the door, and returns moments later with a shy-looking young woman. She's followed by a new gaggle of curious young children, who try to peer around the legs of adults obscuring the view of this prized confection. Daylineâs mom peers into the cake box, and bursts into tears.
âEsto es para Dayline? ÂĄEs demasiado hermoso!â She exclaims. Pattie translates: âShe says itâs too beautiful. She canât believe it's for Dayline.â Today, Dayline is 1 year old. When Kim presents the toddler's mother with the traditional âsmash cake,â there isnât a dry eye left in the room.
Today's stop is to one of many shelters, group homes, and protective custody agencies whose residents Bake a Wish, Austin serves. Since its inception in 2009, the organization has delivered over 4,100 custom creations to those who would otherwise go without a birthday cake.
âThe very first cake that we delivered was to a boy for his 19th birthday,â says Bake a Wish founder and co-director Karen Nichols.
âAfter, we got a note from the agency saying that this was the very first birthday cake he had ever received ... in his whole entire life. Well, that just about broke my heart.â
This story isnât a one-off. Countless children and young adults would go without a birthday celebration of any kind if Bake a Wish wasn't there to provide them with a cake.
Across town at the Mary-Lee Foundation, volunteer Amy Crotchett is preparing to drop off two deliveries. There are five on todayâs docket â which is average for a Friday.
âI love delivering here; everyone gets so excited when the cakes come in,â she says.
Sure enough, Amy is surrounded by curious residents the moment she steps out of her car with the telltale Bake a Wish delivery box.
âWhose birthday is it?â they demand. âIsaac's and Vanessa's.â Excitement ripples through the crowd. Amy walks to the office where administrator Leigh Dunson is waiting.
âLook at the little smokestacks!â Leigh exclaims, peering into the box. âIsaac is going to love this!â
âWorking with Bake a Wish has been amazing,â says Leigh.
âSome people donât have family, and itâs nice for them to be recognized once a year, and have something thatâs just for them. Weâre just a small nonprofit; we couldnât provide everyone with a cake on our own.â
Today, Bake a Wish is known by nearly every agency in the greater Austin area, delivering over 600 cakes per year and growing.
âIn the beginning, the requests weâd receive would just say âbakerâs choice,'" says Karen.
âIâll never forget speaking to a case manager about this. I said 'Help us out! We donât want to deliver the wrong thing.â And she said 'Think about the kids youâre serving here. No one ever cared about what they thought or what they wanted before. And now that youâre asking them, itâs hard for them to verbalize those kinds of feelings.'â
That was then. Today, requests for âbakerâs choiceâ are few and far between.
âThe kids see what their friends are getting, and weâve gotten some pretty unusual requests!â says long-time volunteer Sharon McDonald. âBut itâs good. Itâs their day, and weâre here to give them what they want.â
Karen agrees. âWeâre not just delivering cakes â weâre delivering a message that someone cares.â
Bake a Wish is 100% funded by donations and the kindness of its volunteers, most of whom pay out of their own pockets for supplies and gas to make deliveries. If youâd like to make a donation, or find out how you can get involved, visit their website: bakeawishaustin.org
Note: Some names in this post have been changed to protect privacy.
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