Students bake for others

#Middlebury #FoodForFriends #MMS

Food for Friends members, left to right, Jill O’Connor, Zoni Hammesfahr, Ryan Murray and Marlo Gabriele, staff their bake sale at the Middlebury Congregational Church December 19. The bake sale raised $300 for Brass City Rescue Alliance. (Kristin Murray photo)

By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

Middlebury Social Services Director JoAnn Cappelletti was busy organizing Thanksgiving donations for Middlebury Food Bank clients when her phone rang. It was Mrs. Humphrey from Memorial Middle School calling to let her know some students there had created a new club, Food for Friends, and they wanted to bake and donate pies for the food bank’s Thanksgiving meals.

Cappelletti said this was the first time pies baked by students had been donated. “I thought it was very kind, very thoughtful, especially for the kids to do it as Food for Friends,” she said.

What she didn’t know was the pie-baking project was the newly formed club’s very first project. It was followed in December by a second project, a bake sale to raise funds for Brass City Rescue Alliance.

Ryan Murray, 12, a seventh grader at Memorial Middle School, said the idea for the club had been floating around in his mind for a while. He discussed it with his friends, Zoni Hammesfahr, 13, and Jillian O’Connor, 12, fellow students at Memorial Middle School, and they agreed they wanted to use their baking skills to benefit their community.

The original three Food for Friends members, left to right, Jill O’Connor, Zoni Hammesfahr and Ryan Murray, with the nine pies they baked for the Middlebury Food Bank. Food bank clients enjoyed the pies as part of their Thanksgiving meal. (Kristin Murray photo)

They got started in November, baking five apple and four pumpkin pies for the Middlebury Food Bank. Ryan said they chose that number of pies based on how many they thought they could handle.

“After the nine pies, we wanted to do a bake sale,” Ryan said. He reached out to Brass City Rescue to see if they wanted the club to have a fundraiser for them. President Jennifer Humphrey welcomed the idea.

She said, “The kids like dogs and the shelter is in town, so Ryan took the initiative to reach out. The kids all visited a couple of weeks ago and got a feel for my team, my dogs and who we are at Brass City and what our needs are … When Ryan told me they raised $300 on a Sunday morning, I was just overjoyed for the kids. They all baked their little hearts out! … I’m very proud of them, and grateful as well!”

Ryan said Jennifer was a wonderful mentor to the group. She recommended a few local stores that might donate to the group and local churches that might let them sell baked goods after services. He said she also is knowledgeable about taxes and licenses, which will be helpful to the club as it evolves into a more formal group.

By the time the bake sale rolled around, a fourth classmate, Marlo Gabriele, 13, had joined. Humphrey’s cousin, a 12-year-old Naugatuck resident, baked for the sale, too. Bake sale items included lots of chocolate, peppermint bark, two types of fudge, Elf lunch (Christmasy trail mix), a variety of cookies and reindeer bait they handed out to little kids.

Ryan and his friend Zoni both have attended summer camps focused on cooking. Ryan’s mom Kristin said he began baking when he was 7 or 8 and went to a sleep-away cooking camp in Kent two years in a row (pre-COVID). Zoni went to a cooking camp in Pennsylvania. This past summer, Jillian joined the two in attending a cooking day camp in Southington.

Zoni’s mom, Kim, said Zoni got interested in baking when she was 3 or 4. She saw her parents prepare food for company, and she wanted to prepare food, too. She created her very own dish to serve their guests – red grapes dipped in honey and then sprinkled with cinnamon. Kim said, “They weren’t exactly a hit. We would help out by eating a few.”

Zoni said she had always helped her mom and grandparents cook and was helping even more by the time she was in first grade. When she moved here from Pennsylvania in the fourth grade, she already knew how to bake. She mentioned her interest in baking to Ryan and after he saw some things she made for her teacher, he asked her if she’d like to bake with him.

Sometimes they competed against each other. “The first time we did a bake off we did cheesecakes,” Zoni said. “I made a lemon cheesecake with white chocolate crumble on the top. He made mini ones.” His parents served as judges and declared the bake off a tie.

Of Food for Friends Zoni said, “I love helping people out in the community and it’s a lot of fun working with my classmates and friends doing something good. It gives you a lot of satisfaction.”

Jillian’s mom, Katie, said, “It’s amazing how these kids, when left to their own devices, can come up with some great ideas.” She said she thinks the kids are looking for a sense of belonging in their community and the pandemic has suspended a lot of community efforts.

Jillian said she became interested in baking just last year. She said of being in the club, “I like making stuff and giving it to people and knowing money is going to a good cause and making food for people who are in need.”

She encourages other to join the club, but those who can’t join still can donate ingredients or baked goods. Zoni said, “As long as the people who want to join want to do the work, it will be amazing.”

Marlo was out of town, but we talked to her mom, Jesse, who said she thought her daughter’s interest in the club was as a way to raise money for the rescue. “I love that she is involved with her community,” Jesse said. “In the past, she has organized trash pickup days with her friends. She has adopted animals, donated money, and bought holiday gifts for families.”

Looking to the future, Ryan said they hope grocery stores and residents will donate ingredients like chocolate, flour, sugar, and butter. They want to broaden their skills, have more bake sales and also work with different organizations like homeless shelters and food banks. Rescue groups are a high priority, too. “We love helping the dogs,” Ryan said.

Ryan said Food for Friends is open to others his age who live locally and who are passionate about baking and helping out in the community. To join, get in touch via the club email, foodforfriends21@gmail.com or its Instagram account @foodforfriends21.