Serving up ‘slices of happiness’
TAKE a good idea, add butter, sugar, chocolate, 500 volunteers, and hundreds of people in need and you have a recipe for a local hero or two.
Wellington friends Nicole Murray and Marie Fitzpatrick had both experienced a difficult time in their lives where simple and small acts were the ones that resonated the most.
So after drinking a few glasses of pink bubbly they decided to pay it forward and start delivering baking to people who were, for whatever reason, missing out on a bit of home comfort.
‘‘There just seemed to be a lot of people doing it tough out there and a really small thing gave you enough of a boost to get you through,’’ Fitzpatrick said.
A day later they had 15 friends wanting to help out, a week later strangers were ringing asking to be involved, a year later they are a registered charity with 588 ‘‘good bitch’’ bakers in eight cities and have delivered more than 44,000 ‘‘slices of happiness’’ to people in need.
Yesterday the pair were awarded a Kiwibank Local Hero award, one of 292 awarded nationwide for good deeds in the community.
‘‘We have just provided a framework for people to be amazing and we are very honoured [to get the award],’’ Fitzpatrick said.
‘‘We have quite the team . . . and it gives us hope that the world is not going to end up as terrible as we thought."
Murray said they had been blown away by the response to Good Bitches Baking, which delivers to 75 places including Ronald McDonald houses, homeless shelters, women’s refuges and the Salvation Army.
‘‘More than the growth has been the impact that cake has. It’s sounds silly. But we get feedback that somehow home baking can create a sense of home for people that don’t have one, or can’t be there because it’s not safe, or are having to travel for treatment.’’
The Wellington chapter has already reached capacity with 300 bakers on the roster and 70 more on a waiting list. The charity needed more expressions of interest from people to receive the baking.
The pair spent a lot of time crying because of the feedback they received from all over New Zealand, Murray said.
‘‘Places like the refuge or shelters tell us that some people there had never had home baking in their lives.
‘‘How does that happen? No one has never made baking for them, not even a birthday cake when they were a kid. It breaks my heart.’’
Without any funding, they have invested their own money to get the charity up and running, started a Givealittle page, and were hoping to apply for grants.
The charity was still expanding with six more groups in the stages of setting up.
The Kiwibank Local Hero medals are awarded as part of the 2016 New Zealander of the Year awards and the winners are all eligible for the supreme award.
Councillor Sarah Free presented the medals and said the winners were examples of the qualities that hold the city together.
‘‘Their charity, selflessness and generosity have touched upon the lives of so many and make our community a better place to live.’’
Marilyn Baigent,
Mark and Jackie Kennedy,
Stacey Richardson,
Osborne,
Brooke Butler,
Howland,
Raechel
Viv Malneek,
and Catherine Timms,
John Russell,
Mani Mitchell,
Bonnie
John
Julie Harris,