Making Cookie Dreams Come True During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Like many of you, our day to day here at Icing Smiles was radically changed by the global pandemic. Because much of what we do involves connecting people, in the early months of the pandemic our schedulers were working around the clock to make sure cakes were getting where they were needed and rescheduled for celebrations that were postponed. When all was said and done, about 400 cakes needed to be rescheduled.

While this was no easy task, the even more difficult thing that kept us up every night was knowing that we weren’t able to serve the families that have made Icing Smiles what we are today. Living in this new normal means we had to pivot and share the joy without sharing cakes for the early months of the COVID crisis.

As a first step, we reached out to all of our Sugar Angels to see if there was any interest in creating handmade birthday cards for the families so they knew Icing Smiles was still thinking of them. True to form, our Sugar Angels were ready to help! Cards started pouring in. Sugar Angel Jonathan Brandel even went above and beyond and sent in pillowcase designs for kids to color and bust the boredom of quarantine!

With such a great response to the cards, we knew we could do more. Six special Sugar Angels volunteered to help make smiley-face cookies and send to families whose celebrations had been delayed. Once the families confirmed they were comfortable with this plan, we set out to coordinate the cookie caravan. We reached out to our sponsors to see if they also wanted to join in on the fun. They responded with a resounding yes! Icing Smiles was gifted with:

• 40 lbs of sugar for each participating baker from Domino Sugar
• A large bottle of vanilla for each baker, and all of the necessary packaging materials from Nielsen Massey Vanillas
• $500 to purchase the flour from King Arthur Flour
• $100 to purchase the eggs from Vital Farms
• 42 lbs of butter, plus a new product for flavoring icing for our bakers to try from Plugra
• All the shipping to the families from the 6 different bakers from Chef Rubber

UPS put the cherry on top and helped us assign families to bakers to keep the shipping rates low! All labels were sent to bakers from Chef Rubber to make the shipping process run smoothly. All the bakers had to do was package the cookies with all the materials that were provided and call UPS for a pick up.

We were overjoyed to see the quick and powerful response from our bakers and sponsors to make a difference for some wonderful people!

Being stuck inside can take a toll on anyone, and the difficulty is compounded when a family is living with a child’s illness. As we work to reschedule all of the cakes that have been postponed, we have renewed energy after seeing how much beauty and kindness can grow from crisis.

Special shout out to our bakers that made the cookies! Big thank you to Carrie McGowan, Rayleen’s Sweets & Treats, Aston, PA; Melissa Moes, Melissa’s Simply Sweet, Glen Allen, VA; Stephanie Coleman, Valley Cakes & Bakes, East Wenatchee, WA; Monique Rathbun, Bibby’s Cakes, Ingleside, TX;  Stefania Adney, Cakes by Stefania, Baldwin, NY; and Debbie Kohlscheen, Cake Expressions, Inc., Bellevue, NE.

With smiles + cake + cookies!

Megan Glynn

Icing Smiles Blog Writer