Baker's Profile: Michelle Stern

Meet Michelle Stern, a Great American Bake Sale Rock Star!

Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale, an ongoing campaign against childhood hunger in the United States, continues to inspire bakers throughout the country. We wanted to share with you the story of one of those bakers, Californian Michelle Stern, who has already made a big impact this year.

Michelle knows a thing or two about kids, food, and giving back to her community. She writes the popular What's Cooking blog and owns What's Cooking, which offers cooking classes to children of all ages in the San Francisco Bay Area. The cooking school—part of First Lady Michelle Obama's Chefs Move to Schools initiative—encourages kids to become invested in their communities and to help the less fortunate. So it was no surprise that Michelle Stern would become an enthusiastic supporter of the Great American Bake Sale for three consecutive years.  Also no surprise: Her efforts have been so successful that she has made the roster of Bake Sale Rock Stars, each of whom has raised more than $1,000 with his or her team.

Here's how Michelle puts it: "Share Our Strength has a mission to end childhood hunger. I have a mission to teach children and their families that they can use food and cooking as a vehicle to help the less fortunate. It is a perfect partnership — I can teach the kids valuable skills and we can experience the pride of service together as we share our culinary creations with others."

This year, Michelle joined forces with local parents to organize "Music for the Hungry," a food-and-music celebration held in a Bay Area park. The musicians included several teachers from Michelle's cooking school; in addition to delicious baked goods provided by Michelle's students and other volunteer bakers, the group sold barbecue and tamales. "I am pleased to say that it was a smashing success!" Michelle reported. "We raised over $2,500 and had a day filled with music, delicious food and community." Check out her blog for photos of the event (including a photo of some delightful themed cupcakes!).

How far will that $2,500 go? It costs only $25 to feed one child three healthy meals every day for a month, so Michelle's contributions, and those of other GABS participants, are clearly making a difference.

It isn't too late to organize a bake sale in your own community: The Great American Bake Sale continues through October 2010. Need ideas or motivation? Share Our Strength's Bake Sale Neighborhood web page offers tips, recipes, a member forum and an events calendar. And there's more: Domino Sugar, a co-presenter of the Great American Bake Sale, has created a Bake Sale Center on our website with recipe and presentation ideas, bake sale tips, pricing suggestions, sign templates, and promotional tools.

So what are you waiting for? This summer, team up with Domino Sugar, Share Our Strength, and your neighbors. Start baking to end childhood hunger!