To aid those affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires and to raise awareness of the fires and the effect it has had on the Los Angeles community, Hackley’s Service Leadership for Social Impact class partnered with two clubs, Baking Club and Hackley Earth Action League (HEAL), to set up a bake sale for middle and upper school students.
Since early January, the state of California and those living in the greater Los Angeles community have been devastated by the effects and aftermath of the Palisades and Eaton fires, with over 12,000 structures destroyed and nearly $50 billion lost in economic impact, the Los Angeles Times estimated.
The fires have hit close to home for some members of the Hackley community who have friends and family who live out in the LA metropolitan area and have had their homes lost to the blaze. A group of sophomores also collected and signed a yearbook for a friend & former Hackley student who lost their home to the Palisades fire. When the fires came, he and his family had to react quickly before evacuating and finding a hotel to stay in.
“I think it’s amazing to see the Hackley community come together to support other national communities,” said sophomore Miya Lauher.
The proceeds from the bake sale will be donated to the California Community Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to serving and aiding the greater Los Angeles community. The foundation helps the homeless population, awards scholarships, and helps immigrants and migrants enter and assimilate into the United States.
In the lead-up to the bake sale, upper school students watched a video in their homerooms on Tuesday. In it, the leaders of HEAL, Baking Club, and Service Leadership explained the impact the fires have had on the city and ways that the Hackley community could help out besides going to the bake sale.
Led by a quartet of sophomores, Josh Gandelman, Caitlin Morrow, Sophie Kim, and Owen Spencer, the Baking Club organized the collection of baked goods with twenty-three people bringing in fo
od to bake between both the middle and upper school students and staff.
“I’m so happy that so many people came out to support, and I’m so grateful to the people that gave up a bit of their day off to help others,” said Caitlin, who also helped work the table during the bake sale.
While there were the classic chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and donuts, there were also some specialty baked goods, most of which sold out within minutes of being put out during the upper school lunch period. There were lemon bars, Oreo cookie cupcakes, and chocolate-covered pretzels. However, the true stars of the show were Josh’s tiramisu cookies, Gabrielle Paes’ sprinkle cookies, and Caitlin’s S’mores blondie bars.
In the end, between the middle and upper school lunch periods, nearly every baked good was sold. Emily DeMarchena, who teaches the Service Leadership for Social Impact class, was pleased to announce that in the end the community was able to raise over $1400 ($1424.75 to be exact) for the California Community Foundation.
