‘Let Them Eat Cake’ is a charity that chooses underprivileged children and old-age homes to ensure the poor, lost or forgotten receive some love… and a cake on their birthday!
Johannesburg, South Africa – We were sent an email by a gentleman who wishes to stay anonymous; he wanted to share the story of an amazing Facebook Group he has joined. The group is called ‘Let Them Eat Cake’.
He said the group was changing the lives of children and the elderly in South Africa, and we can see why!
Our Anonymous gentleman also told us that the group has a bunch of volunteers that bake cakes for local orphanages and old-age homes. He simply wanted to make sure that the creator, Courtney Appleton, got some recognition for her hard work and hopefully, more people would join in and help brighten someone’s birthday.
“I’m genuinely tearing up in the office writing this, dammit – not becoming of the 110kg bearded lawyer in an open-plan office. Anyway, I truly think this is a good news story that is worth sharing because this could easily be replicated everywhere and brings so much joy to the bakers and to the recipients.”
“It’s a beautiful brainchild of a baker with a big heart and with the intention that nobody should go unloved, especially on their birthday. Just knowing that somebody (who might, unfortunately, have little else on that day) will get something made just for them was special to me.”
“I also really love that there is an effort made to personalise the cake for the person involved, just so they know that the day is really about them, which I think is so important to someone’s self-confidence, self-belief and just to feel loved. It’s just a classic case of “People want to help out but aren’t sure how” and Courtney came up with a way to solve that. It’s just a brilliant, simple, kind and easy way to be a better human.”
Well, we totally agree! Courtney created and manages the group while working a full-time job and home bakery. She has found homes that are in need and pairs volunteer bakers with a child or elderly resident. The volunteer then bakes a personalised cake for their assigned person.
“Currently, you can volunteer to bake a cake for a birthday, or you can use one of our ‘verified awesome professional bakers’ from the list with a donation of R500 – paid directly to the baker who will then cover the rest of the costs and donate their time. You can then organise delivery with the baker directly.” – Courtney Appleton
Courtney updates the group regularly with information about the home that needs support; the dates cakes are needed as well as the name and age of the cake recipient. Sometimes the children have special requests, and everyone always does their best to supply a dream cake.
She was inspired while making a birthday cake, wondering about the forgotten people that never get to celebrate their birthdays. Starting small, she focused on a home that her company is involved in. It has 28 children, and to her, that was an easy task. But then she thought of the other children in different homes that would be missing out. So she contacted her closest baker friends and ‘Let Them Eat Cake’ was born.
“Once we had more members and the first home had most of their cakes sorted out, I looked for more homes to add. We now have 5 homes on board – 4 kids homes and one old age home.”
The group does one big cake drive at the end of each month to cater for Nazareth house, the old age home. They make 5 cakes on the last weekend of the month as there are 130 residents.
“We need more volunteers so that we can expand to more homes. Homes have been reaching out, and I would love to add them to the programme, but I can only add a new home once the existing homes are all sorted for the year.”
If you would like to join the group and make a child’s birthday special, you can do so here. Courtney helps assign people to a specific home and sends out reminders as to when it is your turn to bake.
Check out some of their amazing cakes below:
We love this concept so much! It is currently only based in Johannesburg but can be easily adapted to any province. Have a chat with Courtney if you are interested in starting within your own province. What do you think?
by 