I recently baked for First Step for their Holiday themed birthday party. I baked sugar cookies in Christmas shapes for the residents to decorate with frosting and sprinkles. I have baked for First Step many times in the past, and I always enjoy the positive feedback. I especially enjoy when I am able to see the cookies the kids decorated, so I have shared some pictures here for everyone to see.
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 This week I baked for the Ford Employee Christmas Fund (ECF). ECF has been helping needy families by providing food and presents for the holidays since 1959, and I am proud that I have the opportunity to help them in their 60th year. I discovered this organization a few years ago, and have been baking for their holiday auction ever since. Every year, they are really appreciative of the donations, and it makes me happy to bake for them again. I baked cookies and muffins for ECF’s auction to raise money for the food and presents. The money raised at the auction goes towards buying the presents and food. I am also excited to help personally deliver presents and food to the families again this year.
I recently baked for First Step’s Thanksgiving-themed birthday party. I thought the kids at the shelter would enjoy decorating their own cupcakes this time, so I baked white cupcakes for them. Since the party was Thanksgiving themed, I thought it would be great if the kids could decorate the cupcakes as turkeys, so I found some pictures online, provided them with chocolate frosting, candy corn, and candy eyes, and let them decorate. I heard that the kids really enjoyed it, and I received some amazing pictures of the turkeys the kids decorated, which I included above.
 This week I baked for First Step’s October Halloween themed birthday party. I decided to bake festive cookies in various shapes including, ghosts, bats, pumpkins, witch hats, and cats, and provided them with frosting and sprinkles so the kids could decorate them. As always, I am proud to be able to help add some fun to the lives of the families staying there, especially on a fun holiday like Halloween.
 I baked for Last Day Dog Rescue’s Lucky Squirrel event. This is an outdoor flea market for the community members to raise awareness and funds for the organization. I baked chocolate chip cookies for them, and they sold my cookies in packages. I heard that the cookies were well received.
This week I baked for First Step. The theme of this month's birthday party was slime. I decided to bake round cookies that the kids could decorate in the color of their slime. I am happy that I am able to provide the residents with treats often, as it brings joy mothers and children, and I am proud to continue being asked to bake for them month after month.
This month, First Step reached out and asked me to bake for their June birthday party for the residents. This month's theme was summer, so I decided to make fun summer-themed cupcakes. Nothing reminds me of summer more than enjoying a cool popsicle on a hot and sunny day, so I decorated the cupcakes like popsicles. I enjoyed baking for them this month because I was able to expand my horizons by trying new things. I had never used candy as a topping to cupcakes before, and I enjoyed being able to experiment.  Last Day Dog Rescue asked me to bake raffle prizes for a recent event. Last Day Dog Rescue is an outstanding organization, and I feel proud to be able to help them. I am humbled that they continue to ask me to bake cookies for their events, and I cannot wait to attend one of their events in the future. It will be so fun to pet the puppies.
 In addition to the event last week, Last Day Dog Rescue asked me to bake raffle prizes for their Vendor Fair. I love baking for Last Day Dog Rescue, and I appreciate the positive feedback I receive from them. I cannot wait to continue to work with them.
Last Day Dog Rescue recently reached out to me asking if I could bake for a few of their upcoming fundraising events. I gladly accepted, eager to begin. This week I decided to enlist the help of my friend, Sarah. I have such a passion and excitement for Baking a Difference, and I love being able to share that feeling with others. For this event, the Santa Fe Salon Adoption event, they asked for baked goods they could have as raffle prizes. Sarah and I decided to make chocolate chip cookies, and we packaged them in groups of two. I truly enjoyed baking with Sarah, and I look forward to baking with my friends again in the future.
Tonight I was honored with the 2018-2019 Outstanding Youth Volunteer of the Year Award from the Farmington Hills Commission on Children, Youth, and Families. It was a real honor to attend the city council meeting with my family and to be recognized for my efforts. Thank you to everyone who supported me with donations and opportunities. I am thankful to have received this award and look forward to doing more with Baking a Difference!
 This morning I received the Youth Recognition Award from the Farmington Youth Assistance for my community service efforts. I was surprised to learn that I had been nominated. It was a nice ceremony, and I received recognition awards from all of my elected representatives, including the governor, U.S. Senators, my Congressional representative, as well as county and city officials. I feel honored to have received this award.
I love what First Step does for women and children in need, and I am extremely happy that I get to help them so often. This month’s theme for the birthday party was butterflies. For the past couple of months I have provided sugar cookies for the residents to decorate, so this month I decided to bake and decorate cupcakes for them. I baked vanilla cupcakes and used cupcake wrappers that were donated to me. Because the theme was butterflies, I wanted the cupcakes to remind the residents of spring, so I decorated them with flowers. I prepared buttercream from scratch and dyed it in four colors: green for the grass, and pink, purple, and yellow for the flowers. The grass was made with a special grass tip, and the flowers were made with brand new tips I have been excited to try. The cupcakes turned out well, and I got great feedback from First Step. Trying something new was very exciting, and I am very happy with the results. I am glad First Step was happy with the results as well, and I look forward to helping out again.
 Last Day Dog Rescue (LDDR) reached out to me asking if I could bake for three of their upcoming events. I was very happy to help. One of the events was their Spring Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast. Because they asked for items that could be raffle prizes, I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies and packaged them in pairs of two. I am proud that Last Day Dog Rescue appreciates my baked goods and continues to ask me to bake for them. I truly enjoy helping them, and I am excited to bake for the other two events soon.
 I love what PBJ Outreach does, and I have baked for them many times before. This week I decided to bake for them again. I baked banana bread muffins for them to pass out this weekend. Ever since I went to Detroit to help them pass out the baked goods, I developed a deeper understanding for everything they do. They give the people of Detroit a community to rely on and help them through hard times. I am honored to help them and look forward to the next time I bake for them.
 I have baked for First Step’s monthly birthday parties for the residents many times, and this month I got the opportunity to bake for them again. The theme this month was spring, so I thought flower and butterfly shaped cookies would be perfect. I made a few dozen of each shape and provided frosting and sprinkles for the residents to decorate the cookies.
 This week I did something very special. I went to Vista Maria and taught some of the girls how to bake chocolate chip cookies. I have baked for Viata Maria several times before. Last time I baked for them, I went and helped the girls decorate cookies for the holidays, and everyone there was extremely grateful. The volunteer director asked me to come back again to teach the girls how to bake because they like to teach the girls life skills to prepare them for when they leave. I was delighted to get the opportunity to help Vista Maria again, so I made plans to come back. My experience teaching them how to bake cookies allowed me to learn more about these girls and what their lives are like. I had an amazing time, and I loved helping them learn the skills they need to be successful on their own, and I look forward to helping Vista Maria again soon.
 First Step is an organization that gives women and their children a safe place to recover from domestic abuse. Every month, First Step hosts a birthday party for its residents. I have baked for many of their parties, and this month was the one year anniversary of the first time I baked for them. I thought this would be the perfect time to do it again. This party’s theme was stars, so I baked star shaped sugar cookies and donated frosting so the residents could decorate them. I love baking for First Step because I always get such amazing feedback. I went to a party in July last year, and I cannot wait to attend another one.
I often bake goods for P.B.J. Outreach. It is an organization that prepares lunches for homeless people and gives the lunches to them every Saturday. Last time I baked for them I went to Detroit to help them prepare and pass out the food. It was such an incredible experience and it allowed me to appreciate how much work goes into this organization. I wanted to help them again so I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies for them. I love being able to help P.B.J. Outreach because they do so much for the people of Detroit. When I went with them to deliver food it was amazing to see how many connections they had with so many people.
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