B is for Bake sale

Bake sales seem so wholesome, happy, and healthy. Perhaps not for the belly, but definitely for the community. For these sugar-coated gatherings, people celebrate food and a cause.

These events succeed very well in sitcoms and afterschool specials. Mothers eagerly stand guard behind tables piled with cellophane-wrapped cookies, cake slices waiting to be dished onto paper plates, and entire berry pies. For just fifty cents or a couple dollars, anyone can enjoy a hand-made sugar high.

The actual-world bake sale is only somewhat similar to the television bake sale. In both versions, bake sales serve two main purposes: the event raises awareness for a cause and fundraises toward that cause. Finding a cause is easy. Finding a large gathering of hungry people with extra cash can be more difficult. However, the true challenges are time and trust.

Who has a couple hours to spare and the patience to bake? In this speedy world, parents have full-time jobs, and baking cookies for a fundraiser isn’t in the nanny’s job description, if there even is a nanny. Sometimes the eldest sibling is too busy babysitting his two younger sisters to crack open a box of Betty Crocker.

The other problem is trust. Bake sales fall into the same category as Halloween candy. Who knows if anyone washed their hands in making the lemon bars? How long has that carrot cake been sitting out? Maybe that brownie contains peanuts or soy or dairy or a needle. Strangers are more common than friends, since many city dwellers have never met their next door neighbors, so why would they trust thumbprint cookies that come out of their kitchens?

In Spring 2004, Mission High School in San Francisco reinvented the bake sale. Students hosted a fruit smoothie fundraiser. Smoothies were made on the spot with fresh or frozen fruit, juice, yogurt, and honey. Each grade level created a unique flavor and sold $1 smoothies to benefit their class. Students could choose to buy their favorite flavor or to support their favorite class. The event raised $400.