SHARED FAMILY EXPERIENCES . . .ONE COOKIE AT A TIME!
“Can kids really start their own businesses?!” That was the question that Emma Bushman asked her mom after watching coverage of a Young Entrepreneurs Convention on a Teen Kids News program.
Emma and Amy Bushman
Centennial, Inc. is honored to share this wonderful story which begins with twin sisters Emma and Amy Bushman volunteering together at a local homeless family shelter. When they celebrated their birthdays, in lieu of gifts from their friends, the twins asked birthday guests to donate items for the shelter such as books, toys, and snacks. The twins not only delivered these donated items to the families at the shelter, they stayed and prepared a homemade pancake breakfast for them…and their favorite part of it all was staying after breakfast to play with the other kids at the shelter!
“Camp Cuisine” at Mercy HealthPlex with the theme “food as gifts” provided Amy and Emma with another piece of inspiration . . . the girls were sent home with a mason jar of cookie mix, and realized that this could be a great way to give other mothers and children the experience of baking together that they themselves loved so much.
Bake Me Home is a charitable organization dedicated to promoting volunteerism and providing disadvantaged moms and kids with direct services that encourage shared family experiences. Their Tote Bag Program helps families leaving shelters celebrate the beginning of a new life in a new home by providing a simple jar of cookie mix, mixing bowl, spoon, cookie sheet, pot holder, spatula, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and a grocery gift card for the essential butter and eggs (around $38 total value). Tote Bags were delivered to the first shelter in October 2008, and today over 800 families per year from 17 agencies in 4 Ohio counties enjoy yummy cookies from an original recipe created by Amy and Emma!
And that’s not all . . . read about their other awesome programs . . . the Family Portrait Program, Bake It Forward , and Bake Me Back Home military program at http://bakemehome.org/programs. After sending cookies to soldiers in Afghanistan, Emma and Amy even received this warm salute from Capt. Justin M. Brockhoff USAF: “Thank you so much for the delicious cookies…it’s bright, intelligent young people like you that are the future of the country and you’re doing great things!”
Emma and Amy have asked Centennial to reach out to you, our networks of talented leaders, and “recruit” you to help us with two important tasks: (1) promoting their mission through marketing and social media, and (2) helping raise funds for completion of the kitchen in their new building, and (3) attending and/or contributing to their Boutique.
Click here to donate to Bake Me Home today!
