Archive for the ‘cupcakes’ Category

Deed 25: “Un-Birthday Party” Fun at New York Methodist Hospital

Posted: July 22, 2013 in Children, cupcakes, volunteer
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“Un Birthday Party” is a program in an inpatient pediatric unit at New York Methodist hospital.  The unit hosts up to 25 children suffering from ailments such as broken bones, respiratory issues, and recent surgeries.  During the program that runs every other week, children are encouraged to come out of their rooms to play games, eat ice cream, cookies and cupcakes.  The room is decorated and complete with TV’s, a Wii, and other video game systems.

When I arrived, a few children were already in the “party” room enjoying their desserts.  Soon after, I helped deliver gamerkidcookies and cupcakes to a cute 13 month old girl who was taking a nap in her room.  When I walked in the room, she immediately perked up, and followed me to the “party room” with her mother.  I continued to interact with her and other children, playing games and doing my best to make them smile.  While playing a game of UNO with a few children I noticed one little boy, Mario was standing around by himself.  Several people, including myself asked him to play UNO or other games and he refused.  He looked a little down so I decided to do my best to make sure he had a good time.  After attempting to interact with Mario for a while, I finally got him to agree to play with the Wii.  We played Wii sports together with another little girl for a half hour or so.  The kids and volunteers started to clear out but Mario and I still wanted to hang out.  We fired up Nintendo Game Cube and played for another hour until the head volunteer had to go home.

This was yet another project that I really enjoyed and can’t wait to revisit again!

Deed 13: Cupcake Creations

Posted: March 21, 2013 in Children, cupcakes, dessert, school
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anti-cupcakeI signed up for the project through Jersey Cares called Cupcake Creations.  It is an after school program at the Jubilee Center in Hoboken, NJ that allows children to bake and decorate cupcakes.  The Jubilee Center provides safe, fun activities for children ages 5-12.

I arrived at the Jubilee center and was greeted by about 10 happy children who were inquisitive and engaging.  I am not sure if they were happy because I was volunteering, or happy because I brought funfetti cupcake mix and icing :-).   The kids did most of the baking and the volunteers primarily supervised the process.  They cracked the eggs, took turns stirring, and pouring the mix into the cupcake tray.  While the cupcakes were in the oven, I played basketball and various board games with the children to keep them busy.  When the cupcakes came out of the oven, they started the decoration  process.  Half of the decorations wound up on the table/floor but the kids didn’t seem to mind.  However, one little girl was very meticulous about her decorations and it was no surprise to find out that she was emulating her favorite show, Cupcake Wars.  She was actually quite talented and I enjoyed watching her decorations come together.  All in all, I had a great time with the program and the kids really enjoyed it as well.