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Baking is one of the most natural ways to show we care. Here's how you can get involved with organizations that turn baked goods into meaningful contributions to your community.
Community Loaves
Community Loaves donates whole grain bread and energy cookies baked by volunteer bakers to underserved food banks and pantries. Established in April 2020, Community Loaves has donated nearly a quarter of a million bread loaves throughout the Pacific Northwest. They have donation hubs in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and California.
Interested volunteers can get involved by baking, packing ingredients, coordinating drop-offs, making deliveries, or supporting their local hub with administrative and tech support. You can find a local drop-off hub or learn how to get involved on the Community Loaves website.
Share the Dough
As the charitable arm of Manna Development Group, which owns several Panera Breads and Caribou Coffee franchises, Share the Dough has several community support initiatives. The Christian-driven nonprofit contributes to Panera’s Day-End Dough-Nation program, donating leftover baked goods to local food banks, charities, churches and schools to serve the underprivileged.
Those local to Manna’s Panera stores can round up their orders to the nearest dollar, with proceeds going to local and national organizations that support children in need. If you’re not near a Manna Panera, you can donate directly to Share the Dough on its website.
Bakers Against Racism
Since its founding in 2020, the social community Bakers Against Racism (BAR) has facilitated satellite bake sales to raise over $2.5 million for social justice charities and mutual aid organizations.
Unlike other charitable efforts, BAR doesn’t accept donations. Instead, they put forward “activations,” which are week- or month-long aims to support specific charities and mutual aid efforts. These activations can include encouraging bakers to distribute free food and baked goods to food banks and families in need in their own community or inspiring them to use their resources to start a bake sale and donate the proceeds to local and national charities.
You can join the current activation on the BAR website.
Lasagna Love
Who says baked goods need to have all the fun? Lasagna Love matches home cooks to families in their neighborhood who are experiencing food insecurity. Volunteers can choose how often they’re able to donate, how far they’re able to travel for a delivery and if they’re able to make allergy-friendly lasagnas.
Taste of Home Senior Editor Emily Parulski is a volunteer cook for Lasagna Love. She says, “I love to cook, and people need to eat, so volunteering with Lasagna Love was such a natural fit for me. It opened up my eyes to how many families within just a 5-mile radius from me are in need of a home-cooked meal. It has been such a joy to cook for my community over the years.”
You can join the lasagna bake via the organization’s website. If you want to get involved but don’t have the time or transportation to be a volunteer cook, you can sponsor another volunteer’s ingredients or purchase something from the charity’s extensive line of merchandise.
Cakes with Care
Those local to Santa Cruz County can volunteer their baking and decorating skills to Cakes with Care. The organization arranges volunteers to bake, decorate, and deliver cakes and other baked goods to financially and socially disadvantaged children and seniors. When a request is submitted, the child’s or senior’s age, preferences and interests are included so a baker can customize each cake accordingly.
If you’re not in the Santa Cruz area or don’t have the time to bake, you can support Cakes with Care with a monetary donation, which goes toward providing decorating supplies and cake boxes to volunteer bakers.
Rize Up Bakery
No matter where you live, you can support San Francisco-based Rize Up Bakery’s pay-it-forward campaign. There are two ways to participate: Purchase one sourdough loaf that will be donated to Rize Up’s nonprofit partners, or purchase two loaves—one for a nonprofit and the other for you.
If you purchase two loaves, your loaf can be picked up locally or shipped anywhere in the country via FedEx. Those who opt to donate a loaf can do so once or set up a recurring donation for one, two or four times a month. Orders can be placed on the bakery’s website.
Cake4Kids
No kid should go without a cake on their birthday, and Cake4Kids helps ensure children in foster care, shelters and transitional homes have a cake on their special day. Since its founding in 2010, Cake4Kids has donated over 90,000 birthday cakes across 19 states and the District of Columbia.
Those who live near a Cake4Kids chapter can donate their time and supplies to bake and decorate a requested birthday cake. The charity’s partner agencies handle the requests and deliveries, so volunteers only have to drop the cake off at the agency. Those who are not near a chapter can donate office supplies or their time for administrative tasks, or they can host a bake sale or fundraiser with the proceeds going to Cake4Kids.
Slice Out Hunger
Slice Out Hunger utilizes people’s love of pizza to support soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, free school lunch programs and other nonprofits addressing food insecurity. The organization has several continuous and annual campaigns for individuals and pizzerias to get involved, as well as a relief program designed to support communities following natural disasters.
There are many ways to support Slice Out Hunger. You can become a Pizza Partner by pledging to donate 15 pizzas, $150 or 15 hours of your time per year to a local food relief organization. If you prefer to donate directly to Slice Out Hunger, you can participate in the Summer Slice-a-Thon campaign and host a pizza party to fundraise for the organization. Or, you can donate funds to the Pie It Forward fund, which raises money for pizza donations to community kitchens and shelters across the country.
Casseroles Out of Kindness
The Casseroles Out of Kindness program helps provide nutritious meals for Camillus House, a Miami organization that provides food, housing and support to those experiencing homelessness. Volunteers can make, bake and freeze a casserole: turkey chili, ziti a la bolognese or baked chicken. Once the casserole is dropped off, it’s warmed and served to the residents and unhoused Miamians through the organization’s Day Center program.
If you’re in South Florida, you can find the recipes on the Camillus House website and drop the casseroles at the House any day between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Those who would like to support the nonprofit from afar can make a monetary donation.
Breadfarm
Based in Edison, Washington, Breadfarm is a family-run bakery that has sold its bread, cookies, pastries and pantry staples since 2003. The bakery’s Adopt-a-Loaf program donates a potato bread loaf to the Skagit Food Distribution Center, an organization that supports food pantries and meal programs across the state. Supporters can purchase 1, 5, 12, 50 or 100 loaves at a time from the bakery’s website.
Feeding America
As one of the largest charities in the nation, Feeding America provides food to over 45 million Americans through food banks, food pantries and local meal programs. The organization works with food companies and farmers to rescue food that might otherwise go to waste, storing it in food banks and distributing it through programs like mobile pantries and after-school programs that give meals to kids after school.
In addition to making monetary and food donations, you can donate your time to one of Feeding America’s 200-plus food banks and pantries. Depending on the location’s needs, volunteers may help sort meals or serve neighbors a meal at a community kitchen.
Local Food Banks, Pantries & Community Fridges
There are many food banks and food pantries that aren’t connected to a national network. The specific need will vary from location to location, but most are looking for monetary donations for bulk purchases, shelf-stable proteins, pantry staples and baby formula, along with volunteers to sort items, pack boxes and make deliveries. Some food banks and pantries can also accept fresh foods like leafy greens, hearty veggies and fresh meat.
Community fridges, which are often set up and maintained by individuals in a neighborhood, are just what they sound like: a fridge or pantry that is open to the public to take or give what they can. The specific donation guidelines can vary, but most community fridges accept fresh veggies and meats, dairy products, frozen meals, canned foods, peanut butter, oil, spices, or grains like pasta and rice. Unfortunately, most community fridges cannot accept homemade foods for safety reasons, but homegrown fruits and vegetables are welcome.
To find a food pantry, food bank or community fridge near you, you can search on your local government’s website or platforms like FindHelp.org. You can also scroll on your community’s Facebook page or do a quick Google search for “food pantries near me.”
