Volunteer By Cooking? Genius. Three Ideas.
By Marilyn Machlowitz
Perhaps you’ve never thought that something you do every day is a way to volunteer. But it can be.
Think about a harried household where takeout might be a financial burden so a made-by-someone else dinner is a welcome treat. Imagine delighting a child who never has had a birthday cake before. An internet search for “volunteer cook” or “volunteer bake” may yield some surprise opportunities you can accomplish at home on your schedule.
Here are some organizations that allow easy online sign ups and also provide online training (including food safety guidelines).
A Boston friend mentioned baking lasagnas to deliver to households in need of a helping hand. She enjoyed using her cooking skills for someone else’s benefit. Indeed, Lasagna Love began during the pandemic to do just that. It has expanded to all 50 states (and 2 foreign countries). 45,000 volunteers have baked one or more lasagnas (or other hot entrées, such as baked ziti or a chicken dish) each.
After learning about Lasagna Love on the Today show, Stephanie Stocum became a volunteer chef and later Technical Project Director for Lasagna Love. She liked helping someone out and that the opportunity fit her schedule.
Lasagna Love receives the requests, matches recipients with volunteers, who then text about meal options and any dietary restrictions. Volunteers prepare the pastas in disposable pans and deliver them. For one lucky recipient, Stocum delivered one smaller one to eat plus two small ones to freeze.
Similarly, For Goodness Cakes receives requests from social agencies that serve kids for celebration cakes for children who may never have had a birthday cake (or a graduation cake). For Goodness Cakes began in 2016 in Los Angeles. Volunteers across 20 states have baked, decorated and delivered 20,000 cakes.
The agencies make the requests (specifying allergies). The use of boxed mix and canned frosting is fine. Volunteers need not have any special cake decorating skills, but if you can draw a superhero, all the better. In fact, if a layer cake is daunting, cupcakes will do.
The finished product is delivered to the agency by the volunteer or the volunteer may use Task Rabbit for delivery.
Another group, Community Loves, also started during the pandemic, in 2020. Food banks were experiencing disruptions in their supply chains, and many people were baking anyway. Katherine Kehrli, a longtime bread baker, founded the organization and serves as its Chief Bread & Energy Cookie Officer. Community Loaves now operates in 59 neighborhoods across 4 states. It provides loaves of sandwich bread through 44 food bank partners. Energy cookies were added later as they offered an easier entry point for volunteer bakers and the food banks wanted something suitable for grab-and-go snacks that were nutritious.
Volunteers begin by attending an onboarding session online. Community Loaves supplies the ingredients (for which volunteers pay) and recipes and asks that each volunteer bake two times per month. Volunteers must pick up the ingredients and drop off the baked goods at neighborhood hubs.
Community Loaves welcomes more volunteers including those who wish to start a hub somewhere else. The food banks clamor for even more product because clients really like the products and can’t believe the quality. “They wait in line on delivery days,” Kehrli said.
Cooking or baking for good? Brilliant.
Marilyn Machlowitz is an expert on executive search and a novice volunteer.
