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We have been supporting this exceptional organization since we meet them at our Expo three years ago. Icing Smiles is a nonprofit organization that provides custom celebration cakes and other treats to families impacted by the critical illness of a child.
In 2010, Tracy Quisenberry discovered the magic capability of a unique cake to transport her young son to a sugary world of fantasy and imagination. Through her passion for service, she started baking for friends and soon founded Icing Smiles to create these types of memories for children whose worlds are rocked by illness.
Icing Smiles has since created over 28,700 custom cakes for children who have a life-threatening medical condition that is considered progressive, degenerative, or malignant and are within two years of their most recent treatment. The organization also serves children who require frequent or extended hospitalizations and siblings of qualified medical children.
Serving kids in all 50 states through a network of over 13,000 volunteer bakers and more than 50 volunteer administrative staff, Icing Smiles operates almost entirely on volunteer resources.
Icing Smiles understands that the simple things, like a birthday cake, are luxuries to a family battling illness. Their goal is to create a custom cake for the ill child, or their sibling, that provides a temporary escape from worry and creates a positive memory during a difficult time.
They know that each cake served is more than just a cake; these baked treats are a chance to smile and celebrate. Memories have magical powers. Long after the cake is gone, the memories linger – memories of the kindness of a stranger, of the art of the design, of the sweet smells of a special treat, of the smiles and laughs, of a normal childhood experience so often stolen from these children.
These memories are why they say, “It is so much more than a cake.”
Knowing what great work they do, our own Rosanne Rush, former President of the NYS Bakers Association Westchester Division approached Raymour & Flanigan to host a fundraising event in one of their stores.
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