An Ohio baker is using her skills to make kids in foster care feel special on their birthdays. Jera Stewart was feeling grateful for the success of her sweets shop, Jera’s Heavenly Sweet in Toledo, Ohio. At the bakery, Stewart makes cookies, brownies, cakes, pies, cinnamon rolls, and scones — all from scratch — with her daughter, Brianna Stewart, a master decorator, but she was looking for a way to do more to give back to her community.
So the pair had the idea to make birthdays special for kids in foster care by baking them their very own custom birthday cakes. The Stewarts get some basic information from children services and produce something made special for the birthday boy or girl. "They get to put their favorite colors. They get to put their name. They get to put any hobbies that they have," Brianna says. "So then me, as the decorator, I get to sit down and think of, 'what can I do to try and convey this image of what they have in their head of what they like?'"
Lucas County Children Services director Julie Malkin says the Stewart’s efforts mean so much to the foster kids. "For a child who's going through a tough time, that's really important,” says Malkin. “That makes them feel like they matter to somebody. They were important enough to have their name put on a birthday cake.”
Source: WTOL