First In-Person Bake Sale During COVID
At the beginning of the 2020–2021 school year, I started a club at my high school called the Baking for Charity Club. The inspiration for the club was my love of baking and desire to help my community reduce food insecurity. The club's mission is to raise money for charities by having various bake sales throughout the school year as well as to meet and discuss baking techniques and tips while baking a dessert.
After a long year of the hybrid school model of virtual and in-person school, we were finally able to have our first in-person bake sale on Tuesday, April 6th. It was exciting, stressful, delicious, and overall one of the greatest events in which I have participated.
The weeks prior to the bake sale were the busiest as I had to organize and sort out the details with my club members and with the school. We chose payment methods, locations, and how to ensure this was a safe event during the Covid-19 pandemic. I worked with a teacher at my school to address safety concerns. There were times where it felt very overwhelming but I knew I had to stay calm and breathe.
The night before the bake sale I made over 50 cookies and cream cupcakes. I must say they turned out delicious. The icing tasted like ice cream!
On the day of the bake sale, I was so excited and could not wait to get to school. I arrived at the cafeteria early to drop off my baked goods and supplies and to meet the club members. A teacher approached me to tell me that the tables and chairs that I had ordered and needed for the sale might not be there. I stood there for a minute processing and panicking. She started to give me ideas for how to do a bake sale without the tables and chairs and while she was trying to be helpful I felt completely defeated. I held back my tears until I walked outside of the building and saw the 3 tables and 3 chairs set up perfectly, just as I had planned. Basically, it was a false alarm and unnecessary worrying!
When we finished setting up, I took a step back to look at all of the tables, I was astonished. There must have been at least 450 baked goods! I could not get over that so many club members contributed to this bake sale and produced a ton of treats. I felt so lucky to have such a great group of people working with me.
When the sale started, the real fun began. People were able to socialize (safely) while eating the yummy desserts and I got to meet so many new people which was also really nice. Club members volunteered in shifts for the bake sale and everything went perfectly until I heard my stomach grumble and realized that I forgot to eat lunch!
In total, we raised $436 for the Baltimore Hunger Project. This event made me feel lucky and grateful to lead a great club filled with talented bakers.
