Northern Virginia

Icing on the Cake: Local group helps make children’s birthdays special

Many organizations deliver flowers, fruit, packages and personal messages, but one in Northern Virginia delivers love – along with cakes.

Libby Gruender founded Cake4Kids in California 13 years ago to provide homemade cakes to local children on their birthdays. Volunteers expanded the nonprofit across the state, baking and delivering cakes to children who otherwise might not have one.

Cake4Kids partners with schools, agencies and individuals to serve children who are in foster care, low-income homes or experiencing homelessness or other difficulties.

Fair Oaks resident Mary Campbell read about the organization while looking for more to do close to home. “For a lot of these children, it may be the first cake they ever received,” she said.

For Campbell’s kids, volunteering was essential when her husband was an active Navy captain and they were moving frequently. “It's a great way to help them have roots, which is hard when you're a military child.”

She asked Cake4Kids leadership if she could start a chapter in Virginia. After more than a year of logistics and paperwork, Campbell founded Cake4Kids Northern Virginia in April 2019, the first chapter outside of California.

7News Helping Hands, Easterns Automotive Group surprise Cake4Kids with $2,200!

Thousands of children around the DMV experience their birthdays without a birthday cake. In fact, some say they have never received one. That's why one Fairfax county nonprofit called Cake4Kids is working to change that.

It's something you might not think of, but unfortunately it happens all the time.

"It never occurred to me that children go without a birthday cake and that broke my heart," said Mary Campbell, owner of nonprofit Cake4Kids. "It's homeless children, it's children in domestic violence shelters, it's foster children, it's children in immigration services, and it's children with free and reduced lunch. We do a lot of Title I schools."

That's why Campbell is making a difference in her Fairfax County kitchen through her nonprofit.

"I thought, 'How would I feel if it was my child's birthday and I wasn't able to provide something?' So I wanted to be able to bring something here," Campbell said.

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. 

Link to article.

'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.

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.

Link to article

Organization Bakes Cakes for Underserved Kids in Northern Virginia

Logo_NBC4 Washington.png

NBC4 Washington
Wednesday, August 18, 8:31 pm

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!

Sweet Memories

Posh Seven
By Betsy Trainor
Tuesday, November 17, 2020

In this busy modern world of social media and constant snap moments, we sometimes forget how profound small gestures such as a birthday cake can make in a child’s life. When I was young, my best friend lived in an old home with a single mom. They struggled every day to make ends meet. On her 10th birthday, her mom had a Big Bird cake made at a local bakery. All these years later, I can still see the bright yellow frosting feathers and his candy stick legs with a shiny orange beak. I’m sure it was a huge sacrifice for her mom to buy that cake. A volunteer organization called Cake4Kids.org recognized the importance of making milestones like this important for all children…

Food, Fun, Information at WFCM Client Fair

The Connection Newspapers
By Bonnie Hobbs
October 17, 2019

As part of Hunger Action Month, Western Fairfax Christian Ministries (WFCM) held a Client Fair on Saturday, Sept. 28. More than 30 of the families it serves attended and were greeted with a variety of food and information.

Partners participating in the fair included: Girls on the Run NOVA, Cake4Kids…

P.O. Box 2863, Sunnyvale, CA 94087 | (408) 752-2538 | info@cake4kids.org | Tax ID 45-3148916