On February 12, 2019, Brendon Fontaine blew out five candles on a birthday cake. "He loved the cake so much," says his mother, Faith, who lives in Winnipeg with Brendon. "I had to hide it in the back of the fridge. 3
Brendon's surprise came from Cakes for Kids, a group of home bakers(烘焙师)who know that a simple birthday cake can be uncommon for poor families like the Fontaines.
The group was set up three years ago by Christy Rogowski, a 40-year-old who works in health care software, and her partner, Wendy Singleton. "Imagining a child who wasn't going to have a birthday cake was really upsetting," Rogowski says.
A Facebook call-out for volunteers finally added 150 bakers to their name list. When volunteers first apply(申请), they're asked why they want to do so. "Some people have said that they didn't have a cake on their birthday growing up, and they know how important it is," says Singleton. More commonly, though, they say they want families in need to know that their neighbors care about them.
The names of the cake receivers are provided by community organizations and Winnipeg Child and Family Services. A child might receive a cake because the family is poor. Sometimes a child is sick, leaving the family too busy to make the treat themselves. Cakes also go to children living in foster care（寄养). Jodi Korolyk, a worker with Winnipeg Child and Family Services, has so far ordered birthday cakes for five of the almost 800 kids in their system. "It shows the child they have a lot of people there to support them," she says.
By the end of last year, Cakes for Kids had baked over 575 cakes to mark kids' birthdays, and the baking continues. Rogowski and Singleton are even considering developing the program nationally and also providing cakes for old people who live alone. After all, there's no age difference when it comes to the positive role of a well-timed cake.
