The rain couldn’t keep hungry dessert-seekers away this past Saturday at The Poison Cup Wine & Art Boutique in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, where Chicago food bloggers joined together for an important cause: raising funds to help eliminate child hunger.

I was thrilled to be a part of the Second Annual Food Blogger Bake Sale and brought one of my favorite Mr. Food desserts: PB&J Bars! I was joined by bloggers from our sister sites, Blair of RecipeLion blog and Matt of FaveDiets blog, and we had a blast meeting sweets-lovers who braved the elements in support of foodie fundraising.

Together with online donations, we raised $1040 for Share Our Strength‘s Great American Bake Sale! Good old-fashioned   bake sales were held across the country on behalf of Share Our Strength, and more than twenty local Chicago bloggers came out with desserts than ranged from Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles to Halfway Cookies and Tropical Cupcakes.

Bloggers who baked and volunteered include Marvi Clemente, Kate Bernot,  Anna Goldberg, Jackie Kolber, Richard Rocha, Caroline Supataraporn, Vanessa Druckman, Emily Paster, Kelly Alesso, and Kristin Hilleary. The atmosphere was lively and the spread was fantastic: each blogger brought something uniquely delectable to the table – literally! Our baked goodies were spread out on a series of interconnected tables, creating one vast line of treats! Hungry customers stopped by each booth to purchase as much or as little as they pleased. We chatted with fellow bloggers about our recipes and, as the day began to wind down, even got to sample a few treats! Despite the weather, it was a wonderful event that benefits a great cause.

Food for thought:

• More than 17 million kids in America are at risk of hunger. That’s nearly 1 in 4.
• 15.5 million kids in America live in poverty.
• 20.1 million children benefit from SNAP (food stamps).
• 19 million kids get a free or reduced-price school lunch on an average school day.
• Only 9.4 million kids get a free or reduced-price school breakfast on an average school day.
• Just 1 in 6 eligible kids get free summer meals.

Every cookie sold and every dollar donated can make a huge impact.  Here are some examples:

• $1 can help provide a hungry child with 10 healthy meals.
• $4 can help provide a child facing hunger with a backpack full of healthy food over a weekend when school meals are not available.
• $9 can help connect a child with healthy lunches during summer when school is out.
• $35 can help a child care center provide free afterschool snacks and suppers to at-risk children all year long.
• $65 can provide a grab-n-go breakfast cart to an elementary school so that every student starts every school day with a healthy meal.

Our page for online donations will be open through the end of the national fund-raising season so if your family or friends would like to make a donation on our team’s behalf, follow this link. If you’d like to see the complete list of blogger bake sales throughout the country and donate to a team in your area, please visit In Good Taste, Chicago host Maris Callahan’s blog.

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