BUFFALO, N.Y. — If your New Year's resolution list includes giving back, how about becoming a "sprinkler?"

The Sprinkle Squad does a lot of baking. They need your help if you’re willing to make a child smile.

What You Need To Know

  •  For Goodness Cakes is calling all Sprinklers (bakers)

  •  The non-profit bakes birthday cakes for kids in need

  • To date, the Buffalo chapter alone has donated more than 2,000 cakes

A cake delivery at a food pantry is not your typical drop-off. But at Felician Community Services on Villa Maria’s College Campus, it is. 

“I'd say on average we're probably doing two to six a week,” Miranda Pinelli, program and volunteer manager at Felician Community Services said.

These cakes aren’t for Pinelli and her volunteers.

“The birthday cake just falls to the side because it's not that urgent critical need for these children. And so we see that here,” Pinelli said.

Pinelli says the need is only growing. They’re serving roughly 1,200 people each month, including hundreds of children.

“A lot of these kids might not even know that it's their birthday,” Pinelli said. “They might not have had a party. They might not get gifts.”

Enter sprinklers from the non-profit For Goodness Cakes.

“That is number 45,” Kim Kotz pointed to the cake she just delivered.

Kotz has been a member of the Sprinkle Squad since 2021.

“I'm a mom and a grandma,” Kotz said. “And the thought that there are kids who don't get a birthday cake or cupcakes or something to celebrate their birthday or graduation or something like that, is. It's hard to think about.”

The decision to mix up some batter was easy.

“What's fun about this group is that you learn from each other,” Kotz said. “It's a nationwide group.”

Helping kids is just the icing on top.

“It kind of indulges my love of baking and knowing that someone's going to enjoy it and appreciate it just makes it that much better,” Kotz said.

Plus, the calories go elsewhere, unless you're Maria Turner, co-chapter leader for Buffalo.

“I've learned over the years to make duplicates so that the family can enjoy something as well as the children that we're serving,” Turner laughed and said. “They get jealous.”

Since 2021, Turner says, the 100 volunteer bakers have made more than 2,000 cakes.

“I learned a lot too, because a lot of the things that the kids request, I've never even heard of. So Google has been my friend through all of this,” Turner said.

They want to expand the chapter, but they need more bakers first.

“And they feel cared for, they feel heard, they feel seen,” Pinelli said. “And when the child sees the cake, wow. We get pictures of the kids. They're just amazed. They're just simply amazing.”