by Max Gabovitch, 17, and Shanze Tahir, 13, Y-Press
CINCINNATI, OHIO—Sometimes the small things in life really do make a big difference. Two organizations run by youth have realized that and are reaching out to the unfortunate through the pleasures of food.
One such organization is Bake Me Home, founded in 2008 by twin sisters in Cincinnati, Ohio. Amy and Emma Bushman, age 9, had collected items and volunteered at Bethany House Shelter for three years. After viewing a program about young entrepreneurs on Teen Kids News (a weekly program broadcast to more than 200 stations), they wanted to do something special for the disadvantaged mothers and children they visited with. When they learned how to create a cookie mix in a baking camp, they knew what they were going to do.
The girls decided to give needy families all they ingredients they need to make cookies. They had noticed that when people leave the shelter, they often had very little to take to their new homes. “I think moms and kids should bake more often ’cause it’s fun and it’s also a way that you can sort of connect with whoever you’re baking with,” Emma explained.
Every month, the girls and supporting volunteers mix up batches of cookie mix in their church’s kitchen. They put it into jars, then they fill cloth grocery bags (supplied by a local company) with goodies: a jar of cookie mix, baking supplies, a booklet of recipes, and a $20 Kroger gift card. They also include toothbrushes and toothpaste after finding out those items cannot be purchased with food stamps.
Each family receives a full tote bag when they leave the shelter. In addition, Bake Me Home has arranged for a professional photographer to take pictures of the families because “a lot of the families don’t have any pictures at all of their kids,” said their mom, Allison.
In its newest expansion, “Bake Me Back Home,” the girls have started to send cookies to soldiers serving in Iraq. These cookies are purchased for $30, and the girls use caramel corn for cushioning instead of packing peanuts. “So they can eat the caramel corn, too,” Amy said.
All of the operations of Bake Me Home are funded through donations as well as occasional fundraisers. It is a registered 501(c)(3) organization.
Bake Me Home not only helps the homeless and U.S. soldiers, it also has taught the twins a lot about helping others. “If one person does a good thing, then another person and then other people see it and it keeps growing,” said Amy.
Amy and Emma have been moved by some of the responses to their work. “One time I saw a person crying. ’cause they were so happy,” Amy said.
Smoothie Kidz
These girls aren’t the only ones making a difference through the comforts of food. In Atlanta, Smoothie Kidz makes fresh smoothies for cancer patients.
Daniel Feuer, 17, started the organization in 2004 with five volunteers and his own supplies. He now has more than 75 volunteers and the support of Planet Smoothie (a local company that provides the group with cups, straws, lids, fresh fruit, and four industrial blenders) and meets the needs of cancer patients at six hospitals.
Daniel’s inspiration came from his grandmother, who suffered from cancer. “Whenever she would get off chemo and stuff, the only thing she could really have were liquids and drinks, so I would make smoothies with her,” he said. After she passed away, he decided to start making smoothies for patients in the chemotherapy suite at a nearby hospital.
While smoothies are nutritious, Daniel believes they have other benefits as well. He makes sure volunteers talk to each patient, not only about their smoothie options (he offers nine flavors) but about any other topic that is on their minds. “It’s not so much about the smoothies as it is the conversations and the connection you make with patients,” he said.
Daniel has seen firsthand how doing a small thing can make a huge difference in people’s lives. “We have patients who cry and are just so thankful that we’re there to support them. Because you know, some of them do have family and friends to be with them, but some of them are by themselves, fighting the struggle. So they really appreciate it when we’re there with them.”
Daniel says Smoothie Kidz has applied for nonprofit status and is prepared to make 1,000 smoothies this year. His views on community service have changed in the six years he’s been in operation. “I used to think that kids were forced to do community service, and it was more of a requirement set by a school or the parents and no one wanted to do it. But when Smoothie Kidz came around and I started doing this by myself, I saw that community service wasn’t a task that no one wants to do. It’s something that we can have fun doing and feel good about ourselves by doing it.”
Bake Me Home and Smoothie Kidz are great examples of youth seeing people in need and taking action. They serve different purposes but result in the same outcome: a full stomach and a smile.
Also contributing to this report were Naomi Farahan, 13, and Carmela Verderame, 10, Y-Press.
