Last Sunday, on Oct 1, I hosted Probably Worth Sharing’s first ever Bake-A-Thon and Fall Fair Fundraiser – for Food4Kids Waterloo Region.
We brought the community together and raised over $23,000 in cash and food donations to support children facing chronic hunger in our community, including making one bag of organic, vegan granola for every child Food4Kids Waterloo Region supports.
I was in the kitchen from 7pm Saturday to 7pm Sunday working with a team of volunteers to pull this off.
This weekend is Thanksgiving in Canada, so today I want to give thanks for this community I get to call home.
We donated:
Over $12,000 in granola that went straight into kids’ backpacks, ensuring they had a great set of meals to keep them full over the 4-day weekend for Thanksgiving – 4 days children facing severe food insecurity wouldn’t have access to any food without the help of Food4KidsWaterloo Region
$6,000 in on-site donations directly from community members who came to the event
Over $5,000 raised from food vendors sales and event operations
This was a true community building event, and today I want to share how it all came together and thank everyone who participated.
The event exceeded my wildest dreams. I don’t know how we pulled this off in such a short time. It was pure magic. I am still emotional about it.
We made so much granola.
The idea
When I started making and selling organic granola (buy online here), I realized that I can do a lot of good in the world with the product – it’s packaged, shelf stable, and kid friendly. The perfect food to donate to kids.
I knew I wanted some kind of give-back program built into the business, so it was important for me to start this early on. I knew from past conversations in the community, led by Humble Lotus, that Food4Kids Waterloo Region is in need of high quality proteins that can go in a kids backpack.
Over 3,000 children in Waterloo Region are living with chronic hunger, and while Food4Kids Waterloo Region is currently helping nearly half of these at-risk youth, many more remain in need. The idea of a “24-hour Bake-A-Thon” felt like the kind of outlandish idea that could raise awareness to the issue of chronic hunger, while also helping to solve the problem.
So one week into starting my business, on August 14, I sent a voice message to Jared Wood and My Nguyen, owners of Humble Lotus Sushi. Market. What if we held a Bake-A-Thon for Food4Kids Waterloo Region – try to make over 1,000 bags of granola to donate?
Could we get some chef friends to help us make granola?
Could we get space to do this?
Jared and My were immediately in, and they set up a meeting for me with Lorri Detta, the Executive Director at Food4Kids Waterloo Region. I asked Thompson Tran, who owns Wooden Boat Food Company – where I rent kitchen space – if we could use the kitchen. He offered to let us use the space.
I met with Lorri to discuss the idea and she had one ask: can we make one bag for every child Food4Kids Waterloo Region supports? Yes we can (and yes, we did). We came up with a school safe (nut free) recipe – that like all my granola is vegan and organic, so it can meet the dietary needs of as many children Food4Kids supports as possible. Like all my granola, it was made with 100% organic, wholesome ingredients – oats, olive oil, maple syrup, orange zest, cinnamon, sunflower, chia, and pumpkin seeds.
We discussed having a community BBQ at the event to raise awareness. We thought it would be a fun way to feed volunteers, and invite the community to learn about Food4Kids. We expected maybe 50 people.
But I don’t know how to hold a community BBQ or manage volunteers. When I don’t know how to do something, I ask someone who does for advice.
I reached out to Elaine Decleir, owner of Joy Media, events professional, and superhuman.
The idea grows
Instead of advice, Elaine offered to take the project on as a volunteer. Instead of a community BBQ, Elaine had a vision for Fall Fair Fundraiser. There would be a breakfast event, a dinner event, and Elsa. She had a vision for kids activities. A fall photo booth. Cartoons on the wall. Pumpkin painting.
We thought maybe 100 people would show up, but it would be worth the effort to bring awareness to Food4Kids Waterloo Region.
Elaine and I split our tasks – I would manage the kitchen and food vendors; Elaine would own the Fall Fair.
The idea takes off
Brent Murphy offered to lead marketing and media relations. Brent’s work transformed the awareness of the event: creating a compelling narrative that led with the crisis in our community – over 3,000 children are facing chronic hunger – and how we’re hoping to solve it. We got coverage in The Record, on 570 News with Mike Farwell, the Waterloo Region School Board emailed it out to parents, Alex posted about us in TL;WR, The Woolwich Observer wrote about it, CTV News was onsite with a camera, and so much more.
So many people shared the story on Instagram. I was able to fill all of the kitchen volunteer slots within 3 days of announcing the event – getting 24 volunteers right away.
We couldn’t have reached this level of awareness without Brent. But he did such a great job we quickly realized this was going to be bigger than any of us dreamed it could be.
The community steps up
My friend Nigel Vanderlinden reached out to Rootree in Burlington to secure a donation of compostable, branded granola packaging that we could use. Rootree provided all of these for free and produced them on an extremely tight timeline to a very high standard of quality. Rachel from Rootree came to the event to support as well. This was an incredible way to show you can give back to the community while doing what’s right for the planet, too. (All of my granola is packaged in compostable packaging.)
Next Victoria Kent, owner of the Yeti Cafe called me.
“Did you see that the school board sent a promo out to every parent? I’m going to help.”
Victoria took over our breakfast event. As Kitchener’s Queen of Breakfast Sandwiches we couldn’t have been in better hands.
A very long list of thank yous
Sponsor
Vive Development sponsored the Fall Fair Fundraiser, enabling us to make the event as great as possible for the community – funding operational requirements like insurance and permits, event activities like Elsa, and our onsite DJ.
We received additional operational funding from Legacy Greens.
These funds helped make the event possible, and the remaining cash from event operations was donated directly to Food4Kids Waterloo Region.
Event team
Our event was led by me – Marko (hi), Elaine Decleir from Joy Media, Jared Wood and My Nguyen from Humble Lotus Sushi Market, Brent Murphy, and Lorri Detta from Food4Kids Waterloo Region.
Elaine, without you none of this would have been possible. You are the hero this community needs. Thank you for all of the work you did to make Fall Fair magic. If you need event support, please hire Elaine to create literal magic for you. She is a joy to work with. Learn more about Joy Media.
Jared and My, thank you for your inspiration in giving back to the community, for making introductions, getting Vive on board, for all the community members you brought in to support the event, and for feeding the volunteers. Learn more about Humble Lotus Sushi Market.
Brent, I don’t even have words – we held our first charity fundraiser together! Thank you for making Food4Kids the star of the show and getting the community out to support – including Mike Morrice, Mayor Berry, and a representative from Debbie Chapman’s office. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for driving me to Caledon to pick up corn that we could have picked up in Breslau. Thank you for making me take a nap. You’re incredible.
Lorri, thank you for taking a chance on this wild idea.
Rootree
Rootree is a Canadian manufacturer of sustainable packaging, including compostable packaging options. Rootree donated the branded bags we used to package granola for delivery to Food4Kids Waterloo Region. If you’re a small food vendor, Rootree also offers a monthly “Pouch Collective” run that offers small scale runs at high volume prices. Nigel and I went onsite to meet their team and you couldn’t meet a kinder group of people.
Shortfinger Brewing Co.
Shortfinger shares a building with Wooden Boat, where we were operating. Rob, owner of Shortfinger, was hosting an Oktoberfest event the night before our Fall Fair Fundraiser.
Not only did Rob agree to stay open on early and late on Sunday, creating an opportunity for event attendees to grab a beer, but Rob also allowed us to use the port-a-potties from his event – saving us on time and costs (more to donate to Food4Kids Waterloo Region!). This was huge.
Rob was a kind, generous, and helpful neighbour through the whole process. Learn more about Shortfinger Brewing Co.
Kitchen Volunteers
We had so many volunteers in the kitchen helping make and pack granola. Thank you to Dawn, Kayleen and Andrew, Emma (my niece!), Nick, Lynsey, Wendy, Iris, Ann, Sarah, Shari, Rebecca, Florence, and Brittney for making granola happen!
Wendy deserves a bonus shout out here – she stayed to bake granola for 2 shifts, making sure that we got through all of the baking and giving me time to go home for a nap.
Thank you to Perry at Oak Manor and Felix at Online Organics for providing a discount for the granola ingredients, and to my Kitchener Market neighbour The Organic Pantry for their donation of 25lbs of organic oats (65 bags of granola worth!).
Community
Thank you to Thompson Tran from Wooden Boat for allowing us to use his space.
Breakfast volunteers
A Matter of Taste donated coffee for the volunteers to keep us awake all night, and donated 300 cups of coffee for the breakfast event. Dawn, owner of Matter of Taste, also volunteered to make granola. Learn more about Matter of Taste.
The Yeti Cafe donated cinnamon buns and lemonade to sell at the breakfast event. Victoria, owner of the Yeti Cafe, also managed the breakfast event. Learn more about The Yeti Cafe (try the Pregant Cowgirl).
Provenance Farms donated 350 eggs from their regenerative farm for us to use at breakfast. Learn more about Provenance Farms.
Mitchell Bright and Erica Orofino made over 300 breakfast sandwiches. Follow Mitch on Instagram, where he makes excellent cooking videos.
Nick Sawatzky made the amazing milk bread that was used for the breakfast sandwiches. Nick also took the 3:00am granola shift, and stayed until well past 1pm. Nick is currently doing pop-up baking at Counterpoint Brewing Co. and is available for baking gigs. Follow Nick on Instagram.
I made caramels and vegan granola & yogurt parfaits. Learn more about my granola business, Probably Worth Sharing.
Nigel Vanderlinden and his son Rowan worked the till at breakfast, bringing joy and upsell opportunities to all who came by.
Sapsucker donated cans of water, and all proceeds from those sales were donated to Food4Kids Waterloo Region.
Dinner volunteers
Humble Lotus Sushi Market fed all of our volunteers, sold poke bowls, and corn on the cob (in addition to helping plan and execute the event). Learn more about Humble Lotus Sushi Market.
Downey’s Farm donated corn and apples to the event, with the corn on the cob being prepared by Humble Lotus. Learn more about Downy’s Farm.
The Lord of the Tacos, Eduardo, made so many tacos. They were so good. Eduardo is my kitchen buddy, working in Wooden Boat alongside me, and also my booth neighbour at the Kitchener Market. You can visit me and Eduardo at the same time on Saturdays at the Kitchener Market! Learn more about The Lord of the Tacos.
Cashew & Thyme sold vegan grazing platters – beautiful boxes filled with vegan cheese, sausage, fruit, olives, crackers, and the most amazing hummus. Learn more about Cashew & Thyme.
The Dessert Artist, Rochelle, made sugar cookies with Black hairstyles, the most amazing pumpkin spice sandwich cookies, and blondies. Rochelle also works out of Wooden Boat alongside me. I want like 75 more cookies. Learn more about The Dessert Artist.
I made traditional and vegan pumpkin pies, which were just for fun and not for sale anywhere else (but you can buy my granola).
Kelly Winter and Brent Murphy worked the till in the evening, both providing joyful sass to everyone who wanted pumpkin pie slices.
The popcorn machine was provided by Bella Vista Catering and operated by Food4Kids Waterloo Region.
Event volunteers
Elaine is going to get infinite shout outs for the rest of my life. If you are running an event, hire Elaine.
Face painting was done by Ghost Town Ink and Helen Fidler Real Estate. I cannot express to you how astounding the quality of the face painting was. Tommy, Jo, and Helen donated their time and supplies and were so kind with all of the children, who were SO EXCITED.
Brett Madill, my cofounder at my tech company, was our photographer for the Fall Fair Photo Booth for the morning. The backdrop was provided by Martin’s Apples and Shantz Farm.
All of the delightful signage was printed by Minuteman Press.
Setup and teardown was supported by so many volunteers, including Jin Sol Kim, Helen Hiebert and her daughter, Lindsey Bett from Vive and her mom, and the friends that just showed up at the end of the night to help tear down: Gloria, Kim, Sai, Alex… after a long day, you were the energy that we needed and we can’t thank you enough.
Kayla, from the gorgeous Waterhill Farm, thank you for loaning so many items. Kayla packed her truck up with key event items and supported the event by volunteering in the evening. We know how much energy it takes to move large furniture items around, and we appreciate you more than we can say.
Throughout the day we had Casey and Ian taking care of all the pumpkin painting (you got us all organized!). Jesui, Emmanuel, and Jacobo, helped change over the event to the evening set up and even stepped into the kitchen to help with bagging.
Shoutout to the Food4Kids volunteers. Honour, Hayden, Lotus, Pearl just to name a few… you rock!
Beckie from Beck’s Broth and Aliyah from Lucky Bug Farm – both of who work out of the Wooden Boat kitchen as well – stayed to clean and close the kitchen with me. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have people who knew the space and the closing checklist to be there with me until the end, to close and clean properly.
You are both literal saints. I would have been there until 3am without you, and instead I got home by nine.
Learn more about Beck’s Broth. You can buy Beckie’s new product online, or visit her at the Kitchener Market (she is across from me!).
Learn more about Lucky Bug Farm. You can buy Aliyah’s produce at Legacy Greens every Thursday afternoon through November (and subscribe to her CSA next year to follow along with what I’m cooking!).
Community is what you create
I think, in this post-COVID world, there’s a lot of anxiety and stress – a lot of people are closed off from community. COVID made so many of us retreat, shut off, and become insular. It was a traumatic event, and a lot of people are in their own siloes recovering from it still. At the same time, there’s a lot of resentment and anger at the growing inequality in the world.
I’m a person who relentlessly believes in hope. That we can make the world a better place, even when it feels like all the odds are against is. This event was a demonstration of my favourite quote, by Mahatma Ghandi:
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
This event shows how big the hearts are of people in this community. Together we did something bigger than just one person could do alone. We made an impact in the lives of these kids, ensuring they had food for the long weekend. We made an impact on raising awareness for Food4Kids Waterloo Region so they can continue their mission to end chronic hunger in our community. And I hope, together, we inspired many others to see that they can make a difference.
Thank you all for believing in me and my crazy ideas. Thank you all for showing up.
This Thanksgiving I am grateful I call this community home.
Marko
Photos from the day
I tried to document the day while also hosting the event. Here are some of my favourite photos from the event.