Icing Smiles comes to Canada

Nov. 22, 2013, Canada – Icing Smiles Canada is calling on bakers who want to volunteer their time by creating beautiful cakes for critically ill children.

The
non-profit organization launched its Canadian arm in April after three years of
success south of the border. Icing Smiles currently has more than 3,600
volunteer bakers across the U.S., with more than 500 scheduled for future
cakes.

In
Canada, the organization has signed up about 300 volunteer bakers and delivered
over 20 cakes with 20 more requests on hand. On the charity’s website, it
describes the ideal volunteer as someone who loves celebrations and wants to
help families.

Piece
O’Cake Custom Creations is one of the organization’s Canadian volunteers. This
bakery in Saint John, N.B., created a cake with a Saint John Sea Dogs theme to
celebrate Cole Pender defeating cancer.

Here’s
how it works: The baker designs custom-made cakes with a theme chosen by the
family. The cake is offered at no charge with donations and sponsorships coming
from companies, fellow bakers and people who want to support the cause.

Icing
Smiles Canada offers dream cakes and fun cakes for families. Dream cakes are
tiered, three-dimensional or carved and require significant time. Under the
program, each child is allowed to have one dream cake. The fun cakes are simple
cakes that can be used for any event.

Icing
Smiles founder Tracy Quinsenberry said she was inspired to create the now
international organization after her second child was born prematurely. He required
hospitalization, and for the next three years he continued to have significant
health concerns.

On the charity's website, Quisenberry said
that she found it challenging to maintain a "normal" life for her healthy
daughter while caring for her sick son (this is why the organization also
creates cakes for the siblings of terminally ill children). “For us, ‘normal’
was deciding which ball was the least devastating to drop.”

Eventually,
she said she decided that she wanted create memories that were unique to the
family. For her son’s third birthday, Quinsenberry decided to bake a three-dimensional
cake, which she described as “really ugly”. At that moment, however, she was
proud. A fire was lit and the rest is history.

If
you want to bake a difference with Icing Smiles Canada, visit www.icingsmiles.ca.