yay! I finally signed up to start helping out in my area.
wonderful! and WELCOME
I was approved and I was contacted by someone who found my info on the free cakes website, then two weeks later it crashed and I cannot get anyone to contact me from there. I have been trying to get my name put back on the web page, and so far nothing..........does anyone know whats going on??????
This has been a very quiet thread lately... I was hoping someone might have some great stories to share??? I could use an uplift! I have a couple of cakes coming up for one family and the woman is driving me crazy with a few emails a day! Could someone share some happy tales of their accomplishments for the group???
in minnesota, we now have a number of group situations wanting a monthly birthday cakes for their kids.
this is the first month so we should have some happy tales soon.
i'm delivering my first cake this thursday - the kids are young (most are 1-4) and the group's coordinators are very easy to work with.
i really enjoy kidlets (i have 9 grandkids if i may brag) so i'm looking forward to this.
I'm really bummed I never had anyone contact me back from free cakes for kids no luck form any one out here in the surrounding citys contacting me either... 
Here is a Elmo cake I did for a little boy....they did not seem to like it here at cc but the little boy absolutely loved it.
Madge,
Your Elmo is great! I can't imagine how excited the little one must have been!
Thanks so much! He calls him melmo and he just loves him, so I think he was really a happy little guy.
I'm still looking for happy stories- please tell me not every FCFK person has driven you nuts. I feel like I'm being tortured. I had 3 emails over night from her. This time she's been online and emailed me pictures of huge cakes! The cakes are due this week...I can't wait for these to be done and over with!
i did a cake for a group of kids at the ywca who had birthdays in january. being kids they just liked having cake.the design was simple because i'm a fairly good baker but a decorator, not so much.
the women in charge thought the cake was special because it was decorated and said "happy birthday".
as you can see in the photo it wasn't spectacular.
after cake, i hung out and helped with the kids.
so, a good time was had by all.
i was much luckier than you in my pairing with cake recipients.
i'm sorry that you've been treated with such disrespect and hope the next one is much better.
I'm still TRYING to find recipients. I've contacted the Ronald McDonald House (no response) and my church and the nun did try calling me back once (months ago) when I was out. I've since called her back and emailed her but no response. Guess, I'll try another local charity group. I'll have to limit cakes to about 1 per month because I really can't spend more than that, so I don't want to contact United Way or anyplace too big.
crazydoglady,
I love your star!!! It's so cheerful!!! I'm thrilled to hear you're having a good experience! For me, volunteering was all about doing something kind and positive and you've certainly accomplished that! I think both the gift of your cake and your time was a spectacular gift!
Thank you for your sympathies as well! I really believe in the cause.. but this particular person is driving me nuts!
thanks!
hang in there, that person would make anyone nuts.
you deserve much better.
I'm still looking for happy stories- please tell me not every FCFK person has driven you nuts. I feel like I'm being tortured. I had 3 emails over night from her. This time she's been online and emailed me pictures of huge cakes! The cakes are due this week...I can't wait for these to be done and over with!
I don't understand why you don't put a stop to this? I tell the people that have nominated cakes that we are all volunteers and the cake will be personalized for their child, then I ask about the interested, fav. characters, fav. colors, etc.
I haven't had any try to dictate how the cake should look, but if they do, I would stop them and explain that because we are all volunteers with various levels of caking skills, we are not like a store in which you can specify exactly how it will look. We will, however, make sure to personalize the cake for their child with the some or all of the child's interests. There are ladies on here that own their own shops that wouldn't be putting with a paid customer who acted how this lady is with you!
You need to gently expain that you are a part of a charity to help ensure children in need receive a special birthday cake. I wouldn't give in to her demands because you may start getting her friends calling in expecting an awesome free cake and thinking they can dictate exactly how it should look. Also, we, and several other chapters, have the following on our websites:
"Since we are all volunteers, many of whom work regular jobs in addition to volunteering for the Free Cakes for Kids, we ask that you give us as much advance notice as possible (prefer a minimum of two weeks, if possible), so that we may have time to arrange our schedules to make and deliver these cakes.
**Please Note: We can only accommodate orders for children under 18 years of age. We provide basic cakes to serve the immediate family only, not large parties. Most cakes serve between 14-20 people."
On a happier note, we've had a busy week. We receive a thank you from the little boy we made a cake for last week, we have two new cake requests for February and gained four new volunteers this week.
Good luck with your cakes!
I should add, I do tell my volunteers that they can make a larger, more detailed cake if they wish, but not to promise it to the requester. I make more simple cakes because we're new and don't have a lot in donations. I save most of the donations onto the volunteers that request reimbursement, so I've had a lot in out of pocket expenses myself, including the website, business cards, flyers, info packets, and several of the cakes I've done. Of course, it's all a donation, but in order to be able to keep doing it, I know I have to keep the cake costs down. I'd rather give 10 children a small personalized cake than just give 1 or 2 kids a fabulous specialty monster of a cake.
Maybe you can explain to the lady that in order to be able to help as many children as possible, you can only provide a simple personalized cake. That sounds a little more gentle, but gets the point across and reminds her that there are other children that will need birthday cakes.
My husband is wondering how in need she really is--we've had 6 cakes so far and they have all been so appreciative with what they've receive. The pictures of 5 are on our Facebook page, Free Cakes for Kids, San Antonio Chapter. You can see they're pretty simple.
I have explained that! She's been in contact with me for over a month.. will email several times a day. I did tell her that due to my work schedule I don't email during the week... but now it's stressing me out on weekends! The party is not just for one child, but then when she found the group invited a cousin to join and have a joint party for their child. The second child missed having a birthday party entirely the previous month because they didn't have the funds! ( I can't imagine how you explain that to a child!)
She's emailed me with a million changes, and suggestions and how the kids love this and that. After I mailed her back saying those requests could be done she stated that she hated those characters and she wanted to like the cake too. I just feel awful for the kids. I've dealt with this lady for a month... the kids are stuck for life!
I have made it clear to her that I can't fulfill all of her requests,(I have explained the volunteer, limited time, funds,etc..) but that I can try to please the basic themes. The cake will not be the 3 tier that she emailed me, but she will have a princess theme!
If this were a paid cake I would have dropped her immediately the first week. But I feel for the children... the insane mother is not their fault and I don't think it fair to punish them.
In the future I will add the note about immediate family. That is a great idea!
cs_confections, Congratulations on your accomplished cake, future orders and new volunteers! Thank you for your support!
Ahhh, got it-she's the extra pushy type that feels rules/limits do not apply to her...and she must be happy before all other, including her kids (hence her wanting to like the cake vetos what her children like). Yeah, poor kids. She seems very selfish.
For the rest who feel it's moving very slowly-it'll get there. I remember thinking this is never going to get off the ground. Just keep telling EVERYONE about it! We started in August and most of the kids we've made cakes for I've found on Wishuponahero.com or craiglist. Just recently we started getting requests from people that have heard about us. My non-related volunteers have all joined just since December-now they're helping get the word out and things are moving much quicker.
Does anyone know if there is a chapter in Ma? I had signed up a couple weeks ago but hadn't heard back. Just did it again 'just in case' and also emailed one of the volunteers in my area for some info.. I am a foster mom and had actually thought about doing cakes for foster kids, dss would be a terrific resource.. What a great way to practice our skills and make kids happy!!
Who have you contacted so far and how long ago? I sent you a PM with the volunteers listed for NY. Maybe you can send a mass email to all of them to find the ones closest to you.
OK well I will try again, but it is very frustrating when you want to help, and can't get the info out there..........thanks for info 
Have you tried calling Toni, Madge? She has on one of the pages that she gets too much email and just call (number is listed on that page) if you're needing a quicker response. She had also mentioned before that it grew much quicker than she had ever imagined - and she had health issues and her mother's health issues to deal with for several months.
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