About us
The Oxford group was founded by Henriette Lundgren as the first of its kind in the UK. Starting in December 2008, we imported the idea of Free Cakes for Kids from the U.S. and adapted it to our local community. This page will tell you more about Free Cakes for Kids in Oxford – our history, organisation, funding sources and plans for the future.
The organising team
Free Cakes for Kids Oxford is constituted as a community group. This made it much easier for us to get a bank account and organise our day-to-day work. We also have a constitution.
Group Coordinator and Chairperson
Henriette leads and coordinates the group’s main activities together with the members of the committee. She represents FCFK Oxford to the world and makes sure that the group is running and (ideally) everybody’s happy. In her day job, Henriette is a Partner at Grange Partnership, where she designs and delivers training programmes for multinational companies.Volunteer Coordinator and Secretary
Sara is the first point of contact for all volunteers at Free Cakes for Kids Oxford. She is responsible for recruiting new volunteers and introduces them, among other things, to our food safety policy. She also has an open ear for all concerns of our current volunteers and organises the two-monthly volunteer meetings, where everyone gets together for an afternoon of chat, exchange and — of course — cake.Treasurer
Community Liaison
Heidrun (Heidi) and Sian spend a lot of time connecting with local partner organisations and spreading the word about Free Cakes for Kids in the community. Among other things, they talk to local schools, children’s centres and other community organisations like the Foodbank, Refugee Resources, the Citizens Advice Bureau or the Leys Youth Group.Events and Special Projects
Hannah has taken on a number of special projects at Free Cakes for Kids Oxford. Among other things, she oversees the community baking sessions, runs a team for a special publication project and is responsible for our fabulous new branded aprons. In her day job, she works for a big publishing house.Media Coordinator
Sinead is the voice of Free Cakes for Kids Oxford for all things media. She writes and edits press releases and our biannual newsletter. In addition, she attends community events and networks with other local organisations.IT and Web Editor
Malte looks after this website and also tweets, posts and writes for Free Cakes for Kids Oxford. He designs the newsletter and other publications, looks after the logo and makes sure that Free Cakes for Kids is easy to understand for everyone. He also supports the Free Cakes for Kids UK network in a similar capacity. Malte is a researcher at Saïd Business School at Oxford University.Funding sources
Free Cakes for Kids Oxford runs on a sustainable community project basis with very little funding as all members of the team are (unpaid) volunteers who donate their time and ingredients for free. However, we need a minimal amount of money to cover administration and equipment costs. At the moment, we have three sources of funding:
- Gifts in kind (e.g. eggs from farmer David, cake transports from taxi driver Alban, printing from local printer)
- Donations (e.g. private donations and donations from organisations such as schools or churches)
- Small grants to cover the costs of special programmes (e.g. Community baking sessions)
Recent grants include:
- Grassroots Grant, Oxfordshire Community Foundation (OCF), October 2010 (£1,000)
- Red Nose Community Day Cash, Comic Relief, March 2011 (£1,000)
If you would like to support us, please get in touch or visit Localgiving.
A brief history
The story of Free Cakes for Kids UK began 30,000 feet above the Atlantic, where a short article in People Magazine caught Henriette’s attention. The article (see below) featured Toni Poulos of Trenton, Georgia, who bakes celebration cakes for children from needy families. A passionate baker herself, Henriette saw an opportunity to adapt the model to the British context and started organising the first group in Oxford in December 2008.
After uncountable phone calls, meetings and chats with local charities, social services and food safety inspectors, the first announcements were put up in children centres, community halls and the local foodbank. Soon, the first ever birthday cake changed hands in June 2009 — a football-themed cake for 6-year-old boy from Holloway.
Since then, we have steadily grown into a fully-fledged community group. As of July 2011, we count about 25 volunteers and an organising team of five who take care of the more boring stuff, such as grant applications, volunteer coordination or the website. By now, we not only bake individual birthday cakes, but also organise Community Baking sessions and participate in fundraising events for a number of causes. In addition, Free Cakes for Kids Oxford has been the first point of contact for new local groups across the country, most recently in Bicester, Cardiff, Milton Keynes, Leeds, Merton (London) and Newcastle. This task is now taken over by the growing Free Cakes for Kids UK network.
Contact
Free Cakes for Kids – Oxford
Tel. 07857 439244
info@freecakesoxford.org.uk
We look forward to hearing from you!
Many thanks also to Hayzell van der Löwe, who took most of the wonderful pictures on this website.
