Everyone wants to raise kind children who will contribute to their communities in positive ways. Finding ways our kids can give to our community can be a bit tricky. Here’s one of our success stories.
Our elementary school participated in the American Cancer Society’s Relay Recess for many years. Students were encouraged to raise money to donate to the ACS for cancer research. Our kids came home from school wanting to help with this cause. Their cousin and aunt were both fighting cancer and they felt passionate about the need to help. We decided we would hold a family bake sale to earn money for the cause. We were able to contribute over $400 every year, for four years by holding a family bake sale. This was a great experience for our little bakers!
In order to provide this opportunity for my children to give, I had to make a big commitment myself. I donated four Thursdays in February to the project. I baked all day on Thursdays while the kids were at school. When they came home, the kids sorted, frosted, packaged, and delivered the baked goods. We made loaves of bread two of the weeks in February, cinnamon rolls one week, and dinner rolls one week. Many people placed orders for multiple weeks.
Helpful Hint: One issue we had to resolve was packaging. Our local grocery store helped us solve this problem. They allowed us to purchase donut boxes from the bakery for 10 cents per box. Sometimes they just gave them to us. Later, we found that we could buy them in bulk from Amazon. We used bread bags (found next to the Ziplock bags) for bread and dinner rolls. We wrapped the cinnamon swirl loaves in parchment paper before bagging them.
This was a great project for our family and helped us honor some wonderful people who have to live with this terrible disease. We love you, Kim and Alec!
If you’d like to try making our famous bread on your own. Here’s our recipe:
Mom’s Basic White Bread
This wonderful recipe makes 6 large loaves. I have found that it is best to mix in two large bowls– so I put half the ingredients in each bowl and knead 3 loaves at a time.
2 TB dry yeast
2 cups warm water
2 TB sugar
¾ cup sugar
3 TB salt
½ cup canola oil
6 cups water
17 cups flour (approximately)
Let the yeast dissolve in the two cups of warm water and two tablespoons of sugar. In a large mixing bowl combine sugar, salt, oil, water, and dissolved yeast. Start adding the flour. Use a spoon to mix in the first 14 cups. Then add more flour as you knead the dough. Knead until smooth and elastic, but still a bit sticky. Cover with a towel and let rise until double in bulk. If you have time, punch it down and let it rise again. (If not– it will still be great!) Shape the loaves and let rise in the pan. Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
