Indianapolis, IN
Nov. 26, 2024
In recognition of National Cake Day today, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is celebrating its centennial birthday with–you guessed it–cakes! Throughout its birthday year in 2025, the museum plans to donate thousands of birthday cake kits to local food pantries adding a pop of joy to birthdays for children and families facing food insecurity. At food pantries, birthday cake ingredients are not thought of as a necessity and therefore are not often donated. The museum plans to fill this gap and help spark birthday joy throughout Indianapolis by providing those items to kids and their families to make their birthdays extra special.
“Everyone deserves to feel celebrated on their birthday, and a birthday cake is part of that experience,” said Jennifer Pace Robinson, president and CEO, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. “Through our birthday cake kits, we hope to bring a sense of joy and happiness to even more children.”
The museum is asking for donations of shelf-stable birthday cake ingredients, including boxes of cake mix, cans of icing, and candles for the kits. The museum will provide the pans and cans of soda to complete the kit. Starting Friday, Dec. 6, on the museum’s 99th birthday lasting throughout the year there will be donation bins on site. Why does a can of soda replace eggs, water and oil? Regular cake ingredients react with baking powder in the cake to create carbon dioxide. It’s the bubbles that help the cake rise to be nice and fluffy.
In addition to donating birthday cake kits, the museum hopes to raise awareness about food insecurity, an important issue facing children and families in Indiana. According to Gleaners, more than 1 in 7 Hoosiers are facing hunger, which can significantly affect a child’s ability to reach their full potential. The museum has partnered with Kroger, Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, and the Mid-North Food Pantry to amplify their message of childhood hunger and help distribute the kits to families in the community to experience birthday joy.
“Many of us take for granted the ability to celebrate birthdays with our friends and families, yet we know this isn’t always the case for people facing hunger. These birthday cake kits will bring joy to countless families in our community,” Sarah Estell, Gleaners Chief Outreach Officer.
“Mid-North Food Pantry is looking forward to being one of the recipients of the Centennial Celebration Birthday Kits. We express our congratulations to The Children’s Museum on making a difference in our community for so many years,” Elizabeth Morse, Mid-North Food Pantry representative.
The donations will be packaged up into birthday kits that will be distributed around the 6th of every month starting Feb. 6, 2025—with the final donation being on the museum’s 100th birthday, Dec. 6, 2025.
Nov. 26, 2024
In recognition of National Cake Day today, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is celebrating its centennial birthday with–you guessed it–cakes! Throughout its birthday year in 2025, the museum plans to donate thousands of birthday cake kits to local food pantries adding a pop of joy to birthdays for children and families facing food insecurity. At food pantries, birthday cake ingredients are not thought of as a necessity and therefore are not often donated. The museum plans to fill this gap and help spark birthday joy throughout Indianapolis by providing those items to kids and their families to make their birthdays extra special.
“Everyone deserves to feel celebrated on their birthday, and a birthday cake is part of that experience,” said Jennifer Pace Robinson, president and CEO, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. “Through our birthday cake kits, we hope to bring a sense of joy and happiness to even more children.”
The museum is asking for donations of shelf-stable birthday cake ingredients, including boxes of cake mix, cans of icing, and candles for the kits. The museum will provide the pans and cans of soda to complete the kit. Starting Friday, Dec. 6, on the museum’s 99th birthday lasting throughout the year there will be donation bins on site. Why does a can of soda replace eggs, water and oil? Regular cake ingredients react with baking powder in the cake to create carbon dioxide. It’s the bubbles that help the cake rise to be nice and fluffy.
In addition to donating birthday cake kits, the museum hopes to raise awareness about food insecurity, an important issue facing children and families in Indiana. According to Gleaners, more than 1 in 7 Hoosiers are facing hunger, which can significantly affect a child’s ability to reach their full potential. The museum has partnered with Kroger, Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, and the Mid-North Food Pantry to amplify their message of childhood hunger and help distribute the kits to families in the community to experience birthday joy.
“Many of us take for granted the ability to celebrate birthdays with our friends and families, yet we know this isn’t always the case for people facing hunger. These birthday cake kits will bring joy to countless families in our community,” Sarah Estell, Gleaners Chief Outreach Officer.
“Mid-North Food Pantry is looking forward to being one of the recipients of the Centennial Celebration Birthday Kits. We express our congratulations to The Children’s Museum on making a difference in our community for so many years,” Elizabeth Morse, Mid-North Food Pantry representative.
The donations will be packaged up into birthday kits that will be distributed around the 6th of every month starting Feb. 6, 2025—with the final donation being on the museum’s 100th birthday, Dec. 6, 2025.
