PIQUA — With this year’s theme as “Games People Play,” the popular Cakes for a Cause fundraiser means both business and fun.
“Cakes for a Cause is the major fundraiser of the Piqua Community Foundation,” Karen Wendeln, executive director of the Piqua Community Foundation, said. “It’s meant to be a community event that’s fun for everybody … and raise money that we use then to make grants for community organizations.”
The Piqua Community Foundation has two different distribution periods to give back the funds raised from the event for which non-profit organizations can apply.
“The more money we raise, the more money we have in the fund, the more money we can give away,” Wendeln said.
Cakes for Cause will be back this year on April 22. Right now, the Piqua Community Foundation is calling for businesses, organizations, and individuals to sign up for this fundraising event by March 20.
“This is our 11th year,” Wendeln said. “People in town get really excited about it.”
Cakes for a Cause brings between 80-95 cakes of a “Cake Boss type” quality to the Miami Valley Centre Mall, vying to be the top cake.
“Every year, they’re bigger and better and more creative and silly,” Wendeln said. For example, Wendeln explained that one year the American Red Cross submitted a cake that was in the shape of an ambulance with lights on it that flashed.
“One year, Craig Mullenbrock Associates had a huge gingerbread house made that looked exactly like his office,” Wendeln said.
After the cakes are judged, they then get auctioned off, along with the incentives that come with some of the cakes.
“Each cake comes with something you get along with the cake,” Wendeln said.
In the case of the aforementioned American Red Cross cake, a first-aid kit also went to the person who bid on and won that cake. Other incentives that are included with the cake could be baskets or items connected to the business submitting the cake. For non-profit organizations submitting cakes, the incentive that they send with their cake might be tickets to their next big fundraising event.
“The incentives are what really drives people to bid,” Wendeln said.
Wendeln said the Piqua Community Foundation is starting to get responses back from people signing up to submit cakes and incentives who already planning on doing “creative, interesting” things with their cakes.
Cakes for a Cause also has a youth division that people 18 years and younger can enter. For that division, the applicants must make the cakes themselves and are not allowed to purchase a cake.
Wendeln also acknowledged the Miami Valley Centre Mall and other organizations in the community that help make Cakes for a Cause successful.
“We’re fortunate that the Miami Valley Centre Mall, Peggy Henthorn, provides us the space to do it,” Wendeln said, adding that WDTW radio cuts during the five hours that they are at the mall and Piqua Channel 5 local access broadcasts the event.
“We’re all about community, and we couldn’t do that without everybody in the community,” Wendeln said. “We have a lot of great support throughout the community.”
For those interested in submitting a cake, registration for Cakes for a Cause is open. A cake confirmation card must be submitted by March 20 or information provided to Executive Director Karen Wendeln at 937-615-9080 by that same deadline.
Information about possible cake entries:
• The cake may be any size of shape.
• The cake needs to be covered with a clear covering or in a bakery box with a see-through lid.
• Do no use a stand, board, or cover that needs to be returned unless it can easily be removed from the cake.
• If items are put on the cakes that the providers of the cakes want back, they should put their names on those items and arrange to have them returned.
• Due to possible food allergies, the foundation is requesting that those who sign up to submit cakes not change the cake flavor that has been given on the registration information.
• The cakes will not be refrigerated and will be on display for approximately 24 hours, so any icing or filling that will not “hold up” should not be used.
• For those who register to submit a cake, the cakes must be delivered to Miami Valley Centre Mall between 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on April 21.
Sample incentives provided by the Piqua Community Foundation:
• One-week stay at a condo in Florida.
• One year of free Internet service.
• One year free club membership.
• Free round of golf for two plus cart.
• Use of a limo and dinner for four.
• Interior/exterior car cleaning and detailing.
• Tickets to a game or event.
• Gift certificates to your businesses.
• Gift basket of products from your business.
• Tickets to a concert or play.
• Free service from your company or agency.
Official cake auction bakeries provided by the Piqua Community Foundation include Dobo’s Delight Bake Shoppe, Kroger Bakery, Ulbrich’s Bakery, Walmart Bakery, The Cakery, and Brittney’s Cakes.
