Smart Bellies Holiday Fundraiser: Building Community Through Baking
Biked Goods + Smart Bellies + Cool River Coffee House teamed up again this holiday to help reduce childhood hunger and increase access to healthy food options for over 300 kids and their families in Summit County, Colorado.
More than 1 in 6 children don’t have consistent access to nutritious food. In Colorado, 474,420 people are facing hunger - and of them 141,570 are children. And we’re not okay with that.
The goal of the fundraising campaign was to raise money to help buy ingredients that Biked Goods would use to bake homemade goods that Smart Bellies would include in their holiday meal box deliveries to kids and families.
I’ve always been a firm believer in using food to bring people together and build community - and this year was nothing short of spectacular! Here’s a quick snapshot of the incredible experience we had.
$750 was raised from the community to help buy the ingredients
Over 900 baked goods, we’re made at Cool River Coffee House in Breckenridge with the help of 9 volunteers
Not only did Cool River Coffee House let us use their kitchen for the second year in a row, but they also donated a majority of the ingredients to help bake as well!
With Cool River’s help, we were able to take the $650 of the donations raised during the campaign and give them directly to Smart Bellies so they can continue to feed kids through their snack programs.
And the icing on the cake: Smart Bellies had an anonymous group matching donations made in December, meaning our $650 doubled to $1,300!
Below you’ll find photos from the fundraising event along with the recipes we made together in case you want to try them out yourself this holiday or give them to someone in need!
Thanks to everyone who helped support, bake, and make this magic happen. ✨
About Smart Bellies
About
Smart Bellies is a team of local community members working to provide children with an equitable and reliable source of nutritious food. We deliver weekly bags with breakfast, lunches and snacks for the kids, produce for the whole family, and monthly snacks to our local schools. And we have a ton of fun doing it!
Mission
Smart Bellies is working to reduce childhood hunger and increase access to healthy food options on the weekends.
Learn more
The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER!
Bake these cookies for your next bake sale, fundraiser, or event.
Ingredients
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp flaxseed
3 Tbsp unsweetened almond milk
1/3 cup melted and cooled coconut oil
2 cups Pamela's Gluten-Free Pancake and Baking Mix (MUST use this exact product)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Flaky sea salt for topping
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the coconut sugar, vanilla extract, flaxseed, and almond milk until well combined. Next, add and whisk the melted and cooled coconut oil until completely smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.
Sift in the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients bowl and mix with a spoon until well combined. Fold in chocolate chunks. Use your hands as needed to form a ball of dough. Grab or scoop about 2 Tbsp of dough and roll it into a ball. Place 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Sprinkle with flaky sea salt on top when done. (This is the finishing touch that puts the BEST into EVER.) Allow cookies to sit on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing them from the pan and place on a cooling rack.
Baker’s Tip
Always run a single test batch when making a new cookie recipe (or any other baked good recipe, for that matter). There’s nothing worse than making up an entire batch of cookies and watching them all come out flat or not spread at all. A test batch will allow you to make adjustments if needed.
Partner With Biked Goods
If you are a youth organization or school and want to add fun, experiential programming for your youth participants, contact us about partnering together.