Sydney Swans Give the CC Drive a Plug

The Sydney Swans have been a fabulous support and gave a a great plug on their website

http://www.sydneyswans.com.au/News/NewsArticle/tabid/7106/Default.aspx?newsId=71029

Note from Ronni Kahn

Ronni Kahn the Founder of Oz Harvest in Australia, rang me to give me some feed back as to where some of our Charity Cupcake Drive cupcakes ended up. Ronni said she took 400 out to Macquarie Fields an outer suburb of Sydney, which has an extremely high unemployment and poverty rate. Oz Harvest distributed them to the local children as part of a little Christmas party they organized. She said that the children were just overwhelmed and loved them, they were a serious treat and guarded protectively, Ronni wanted to say a special thank you to everyone who participated and to let you know how apprecioated the cupcake were!

OZ HARVEST COLLECTS OUR CUPCAKES

A big team came this morning from Oz Harvest to collect our cupcakes, they will be distributing them over the next few days to the following areas: Parramatta, Wollongong and Waterloo where they will be distributed amongst many charities, the Waterloo drop off is to be distributed amongst over 12 charities alone - OZ Harvest were extremely grateful and asked that I pass on a thank you to all of the volunteers!

CONGRATULATIONS AFTERNOON SHIFT

I think that we were definately saving the best for last, the Afternoon shift whizzed through over 1000 cupcakes in record time with spectacular results.

A big thank you to volunteers: Amy Aitkenhead, Sally Beesley, Karli Bryden, Carol Bryden, Sonja Cogle, Natalie Fourie, Tiffany Harris, Jenny Jurkovic, Kimberley Littleford, Annie Lo, Catherine McLachlan, Lyn Meade, Kylie Meade, Fiona Paterson, Rebecca Pedemont, Sue Pedemont, Linda Perrins, Jomana Racheha, Amanda Rattray, Katherine Singson, Rachel Vassallo, Donna Ward, Kyranie Wegg, Gengis Yaglipinar, Yusra Charouk and Melanie Starr *

I would also like to say a big thank you to the wonderful staff that have supported me today and given up time with their families, unpaid to make the Drive a success. Particularly I would like to thank Anna Maria & Joseph Roche and Jessica Pedemont, who have worked tirelessly through 3500 cupcakes all day, thank you guys so much for not only supporting my hair brained ideas, but for your compassion and excellence at what you do!

CONGRATULATIONS LUNCH SHIFT

A big thank you to our Lunch Shift, a great bunch on people and another 1000 cupcakes, it was a lot of fun working with you all today and the end result is amazing!

A big thank you to the following volunteers: Mervet Awad, Jhoanee Beltran, Lynne Bradley, Deanne Cessario, Rosalie Cessario, Ivy Chung, Kelly Donlan, Sandra Lollback, Courtney Lollback, Erin Lollback, Marianne Lollback, Joanne McManus, Ali Meades, Ali's Mum, Vicky Nehme, Sharon Pardon, Tina Pettaiae, Maria Andallo, Jomana Racheha, Morina Sutedja, Lisa Tu, Jessie Tu, Pat Wildman.

A big thank you to Planet Cake staff and friends: Kim Veverka, Anthony, Bec, Daniel Givney, Melanie Starr, Billy Cutler, Jessica Pedemont, Anna Maria Roche, Joseph Roche, Rick Lester

CONGRATULATIONS MORNING SHIFT

A huge thank you to our first shift of the cupcake drive for producing just over 1000 cupcakes, a significant contribution to the end tally, and a lovely group of people, I hope to see a lot of them again at next years charity cupcake drive!!

A big thank you to the following volunteers: Eliza Emparo, Victoria Batchelor, Kim Batchelor, Rebecca Behan, Joanne Calcara, Lauren Cassells, Josephine Cassells, Erin Dullard, jenny Fricke, Stephanies Fung, Margot Gothard, Winnie Lai, Lisa Lee, Bianca Masecrow, Sian mason, Linda Mott, Genevieve Nguyen, Jacqueline Owens, Maria Rotziokos, Elizabeth Russon, Lisa Sampson, Andrea Summerell

Thank you to Planet Cake Staff & friends: Linda Harden, Billy Cutler, Joseph Roche, Daniel Givney, Jessica Pedemont, Anna Maria Roche & Rick Lester

Jessica Pedemont Kneading 30 kg of Icing

A big thank you to Jessica Pedemont for kneading over 30kg of icing for the drive - Thank you Jess, you are a legend!

MX Magazine Promotes CC Drive 19.12.08

Thank you JL Stewart

A big thank you to Nanan & Ron from JL Stewart for donating 4 buckets of Fondx icing for the cupcake drive!

FOOTY PLAYERS HELP PROMOTE CC DRIVE

Yesterday was great fun at Planet Cake as some incredibly handsome footy players arrived at to help promote the charity cupcake drive for the media. Jude Bolton ad Ryan Okeffe from the Sydney Swans joined Anthony Watamough from Manly Sea Eagles joined the Planet Cake team making cupcakes. See photos including a Planet Cake staff photo with Jess, Margie and Handi, what lucky ducks!

OZ HARVEST - OUR DISTRIBUTION PARTNER

This is a photo of Billy in 2006 handing over the gingerbread to the founder of Oz Harvest in Australia Ronni Kahn.

OzHarvest is a non-denominational charity operating food rescue programs in Sydney, Wollongong and Canberra. They collect excess fresh food that would otherwise be thrown away by corporate offices, delis,restaurants, caterers, function centres etc; and provide the food to charities which support the disadvantaged and at risk communities in Sydney, Wollongong and Canberra. This service is provided at no cost to both the food donor and the recipient.Established in November 2004 with one van OzHarvest delivered 4000 meals in its first month of operation. We now deliver on average 80,000 meals each month with our fleet of five vans in Sydney. Excess food is turned into a resource, saving thousands of kilograms of food from being dumped as landfill each year. http://www.ozharvest.org.au/

2008 Cupcakes

Here is a sneak peak of the cupcakes we will be making for the Charity Cupcake Drive - Shhhh!

2007 Charity Cupcake Drive Morning Shift & Afternoon

Planet Cake's Charity cupcake drive last year was very fun but we had a much more serious goal than the years before of making 2000 cupcakes for Sydney's needy. Together with over 40 volunteers in two shifts my wonderful staff Handi Mulyana, Anna Maria Roche (& Husband Joseph), Antony Bullimore, Sarah Donges (& partner Corey), Rick Lester (my Dad) & husband Billy succeded in decorating 2000 cupcakes. After all the volunteers left, I looked around at my staff all of whom looked very tired and had been decorating all day and i have never felt so proud. When Oz harvest came to collect the cupcakes there had already been a huge demand for them and orders were made weeks before from various charities, hoping to be able to include a little treat for the people they were helping. 500 went directly to Parrmatta for a chritmas eve dinner for the homeless. In the days that followed I recieved calls from womens refugess and other centres in Sydney, who were desperate for some cupcakes to distribute amongst the children and adults there. As a result of demand and the need that is there, this year we have upped the tally even further and in 2008 we will be making 3500!

CHARITY CUPCAKE DRIVE HISTORY

I developed the idea of a charity cupcake drive in 2006 when read a book called ‘Mixed Blessings”, by an incredible woman called Deborah Lee. Deborah does some amazing work with Foster children among other charities she supports. She mentions in her book that at Christmas time she likes to make hampers for those in need, she had come to realize that although charities dispensed hot meals and the necessities there was very little in the way of treats or nice things, such as shampoo or sweets. Deborah makes a point in her book that it is not only important to look after peoples physical well being but also their mental well being if you want to make a real difference in people lives. I instantly thought about the homeless in Sydney and how Planet Cake could give something back to them, a cupcake on Christmas Eve is certainly not life changing but maybe generate a smile on what is for some a very painful time of year.

The first Charity Cupcake Drive in 2006 was an add hock affair (see top photo) together with some volunteers and Planet Cake staff we attempted and succeeded in making 1000 cupcakes and gingerbread. I was completely overwhelmed by the interest from the general public and in 2007 we made over 2000 cupcakes. These cupcakes go to Christmas eve dinners for the homeless, to women’s refugees which sadly are fairly well attended by women and their children during the holiday period, to halfway houses and homeless shelters, the cupcakes are split up and are distributed all over Sydney, in 2007 many were distributed to Sydney’s western suburbs. To distribute our cupcakes we have always teamed up with our wonderful partners Oz Harvest http://www.ozharvest.org.au/ a wonderful charity in their own right.