FLOUR POWER! Volunteers’ cakes bring joy to kids facing adversity

Newly-formed Detroit chapter of nonprofit ‘For Goodness Cakes’ seeking members to help spread frosting-covered happiness

How could anyone possibly not get behind a nonprofit organization whose motto is: “Spreading love, joy and frosting”?

Thanks to Plymouth/Canton residents/friends/moms Jaime Luczak and Dana Gannon, a chapter of For Goodness Cakes, a nationwide nonprofit organization, has opened in the Detroit area.

For Goodness Cakes helps organize volunteers to bake and deliver cakes to organizations that help children in foster care and underprivileged young adults, ensuring that they receive a birthday or graduation cake and feel recognized, celebrated, and loved on their special day.

“We are thrilled to continue the wonderful work that For Goodness Cakes has started in other parts of the country and bring the ‘Spread Love, Joy and Frosting’ motto to southeastern Michigan,” shared Luczak and Gannon, co-chapter leaders of the Detroit chapter.

“All youth deserve at least one day where they are celebrated for the way in which the world is uniquely brighter because of their presence in it,” said Luczak, expressing her passion for the Detroit chapter. “I feel that all kids should know that they are special and loved merely because they exist.”

Luczak, a social worker, learned about For Goodness Sakes from a friend approximately three years ago. She was impressed from the get-go, but an out-of-state move from Michigan (the family has since moved back to Plymouth) delayed her involvement.

“When I first heard about it, I thought, ‘This is awesome!’,” the mother of three young children said. “When I found out there wasn’t a chapter in the Detroit area, I hit a button on their website to get the ball rolling.

“I went through five or six interviews — more for me to ask the administrators of the nonprofit questions I may have — and everything was approved in mid-August.”

Luczak said the impact a single birthday cake can have on a child’s life is amazing.

“When I talked to Alisha, the director of Royal Family Kids, she said some of their kids didn’t even know when their birthday was because it was never celebrated,” Luczak said. “These cakes are a way of making sure the kids know they matter.”

Volunteers who bake the cakes are given instructions on what kind of cake the recipient would like. Once the cake is baked, the volunteer drops the cake off at the agency.

“Rarely do the volunteers get to meet the kids in person, but Alisha is great about sending photos of the kids with the cakes and the celebration,” Luczak said.

Beth Ryan, Executive Director of Stepping Forward LA, a partner agency of For Goodness Cakes that helps young adults transition out of foster care, explained many youths who go through foster programs aren’t accustomed to having their birthdays celebrated — which makes For Goodness Cakes’ presence so vital.

The new Detroit chapter is looking to partner with other 501(c)(3) nonprofit agencies that serve infants, children, teens and young adults currently facing adversity. These agencies can be foster care agencies, youth/family homeless or alternative-care shelters, or agencies serving LGBTQ+ youth, critically/terminally ill youth, human/sex-trafficked youth, or youth with incarcerated parents.

Interested people are encouraged by Luczak and Gannon to fill out the form on www.forgoodnesscakes.org/become-a-partner to sign up to be a partner agency.

Registration is currently open for all interested bakers in the metro-Detroit area for For Goodness Cakes. Detroit will join bakers from all over the country in helping these kids celebrate their special day.

Interested volunteers can join the “Sprinkle Squad” at www.forgoodnesscakes.org/volunteer for more information and to begin an online volunteer orientation and food safety quiz. From brand-new bakers to fondant pros, all skill levels are encouraged to sign up – all For Goodness Cakes asks is that you put love and kindness into each cake you bake.

Volunteers are able to bake and deliver the cakes based on their own schedule.

To learn how you can help support For Goodness Cakes’ mission to bring smiles to kids and young adults facing adversity through financial or volunteer donations in Detroit, please go to their website at www.forgoodnesscakes.org/detroit-mi.

The nonprofit organization consists of more than 4,000 volunteers, 450 partner agencies and has delivered more than 12,000 cakes to youth facing adversity nationwide.

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