Tag Archives: Toronto Bakes for Japan

Kudos, Toronto: $27,819.41 and counting!

Each and every person involved in this past weekend’s Toronto Bakes for Japan charity event should be well pleased with their efforts: to date, the tally of monies earned sits at $27,819.41. And the counting hasn’t quite finished.

My contribution included some prettily packaged Chocolate Chip Banana Mini Muffins & Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies for the Liberty Noodle location. I enticed LX into helping me cart everything over with the promise of tasty confections that I’d buy, in return, for us to take home and enjoy. My not-so-clever ruse – while entirely transparent – worked like a charm and I attained some hired help for free.

After treating ourselves to a coffee at Balzac’s, across the street, we wandered back to check out the sale once things got underway at 11am. Not surprisingly, LX instantly zeroed in on some Bacon Buttermilk Tea Biscuits. I lost my heart to a Green Tea Cupcake and a single-serve Not Your Momma’s PB & J Pie. I know. I made the Cupcake my brunch. The PB & J Pie? I needed alone time for that: I did an extra workout and set aside a substantial chunk of my daily calories for that bad boy. And, no – I didn’t share.

Day One (Saturday) saw glorious weather and over $5 grand raised at just the Brickworks location, alone.

And while the weather was less than agreeable for Day Two on Sunday (seriously, Mother Nature – you couldn’t give us this one?) it didn’t seem to stop hordes of folks from coming out in droves to satisfy their sweet tooth. In fact, Liberty Noodle & the Rivoli had such a turnout that they decided to extend both end times until everyone and everything was gone.

That’s dedication. The weather, as it turned out, agreed and the thundershowers cleared up and gave way to a bright, sunny afternoon.

Kudos to Heena & Niya and everyone else who gave up free time & mad skills to make this event such a resounding success!

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What are YOU doing this weekend?

I’ll be whipping up several dozen prettily packaged bits of yum to be put on offer at Toronto Bakes For Japan; so it’d be fantabulous if you could drop by and stroke my ego a tiny bit by making a donation in return for the privilege of taking one of them home with you!

If you can’t drop by either the Saturday (April 9) or Sunday (April 10) event, then you can still help out by donating online in the form of cold, hard cash. The process is simple & secure and all donations will go directly toward the total amount collected from the bake sale.

You don’t have to be from Toronto, either. You just have to be generous.

Let’s get our bake on, Toronto!

I was approached last week by a lovely young lady named Heena, telling me about an exciting fundraiser she was organizing to benefit the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan; that’s right, Toronto – we’re kickin’ it old school with a bake sale to raise money for Japan Relief efforts.

I’d been watching the news and thinking about what possible help I could offer – any monetary donation I could afford would hardly make a dent – so when she threw her idea at me, I jumped. And the best part? The first venue to come on board is right in my hood: Liberty Noodle @171 East Liberty St in Toronto.

Toronto Bakes For Japan started off as a small bake sale in a funky community in downtown Toronto and has already blossomed to include three more venues (including the Farmers’ Market at Evergreen Brick Works, The Rivoli & Cafe Diplomatico) across the city as well as an extra date (Saturday, April 9 for the Farmer’s Market venue.)

The event takes place Saturday, April 9 & Sunday, April 10.

100% of the proceeds will be donated directly to the Japanese Red Cross Society and not only will the event organizers be publishing a total amount raised by the initiative, but they’ll also upload a receipt after the funds have been transferred. Oh, if only our government could operate so transparently. But I digress.

An extensive set of FAQs regarding this initiative is online – as well as all the event details, times and locations. And if you can take part, Heena asks that you contact her via the website’s Contact page or directly, via email: torontobakesforjapan@gmail.com. She’s super speedy at replying as well – so you won’t have to wait long for a response with how you can get involved.

Bakeries, Restos or Small Businesses can jump on board with donations (including more venues!), pledges or just with help spreading the word.

I plan to get my bake on as my way of helping. And I’ll be on hand throughout the event as an extra pair of hands wherever they may be needed. So if you can bake something, volunteer some time, attend the event, or just tell someone else about it who can… that would be a fantastic help.

I may not be able to donate oodles of cash but I CAN bake up a storm.

Get involved, Toronto… it’s for an amazing cause!