Make muffins, help the unhoused
There's a national day devoted to just about every type of food, so what sets National Muffin Day on Feb. 26 apart? And how did its co-founder, San Anselmo resident Jacob Kaufman, become known around the Bay Area as “the Muffin Man”?
“I've always loved to cook but had never baked,” says the tech attorney about the days before his muffin-making paved the way for what has become a homegrown philanthropic initiative that has drawn international attention.
Unlike most food holidays that are consumer-oriented, the goal of National Muffin Day is to give back and inspire as many people across the country as possible to bake muffins and distribute them to unhoused individuals or shelters. Taking it a step further, for each person who bakes and delivers, the organizers donate money to Project Homeless Connect in San Francisco and Family Promise, a national organization.
To date, the muffin-making endeavor has enlisted more than 2,000 volunteer bakers, or muffinteers, and raised more than $60,000, earning it media attention nationwide.
Ten years ago, when Kaufman, a Ross Elementary School, Redwood High School, Columbia University and UCLA graduate, was working at a law firm on Market Street in San Francisco, he would not have conceived of someday earning the nickname of a 19th-century British nursey rhyme. His uncle was making muffins and Kaufman was turned on to the simplicity of transforming a simple batter mix into a batch of delicious breakfast treats.
But living alone at the time, he found a dozen was 11 too many, so he decided to bag up the extra and spread the warmth and nourishment to homeless individuals he encountered on his walk to work. This became a weekly ritual.
In 2015, Kaufman partnered with friend Julia Levy, who was living in New York working in the nonprofit sector. The two decided to expand on the concept by establishing an official muffin baking and giving day. Eight years later, he classifies himself as the ceremonial figurehead while
Levy manages National Muffin Day accounts on Substack and social media.
How can you participate? Bake a batch of muffins, solo or with a group, take an image and post it on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook with the hashtag #givemuffins and deliver to individuals in need on the street or in a shelter. Each baker in the post earns a charitable contribution up to a designated level made by Kaufman, his father and his former law firm boss. That final figure is matched by his current employer.
Find additional details on how to make a difference with muffins at nationalmuffinday.org.
For suggestions on where to drop off your muffins in Marin, email Kaufman at jkauf3@yahoo.com.
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