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Birthday cakes are typically a part of any child’s birthday, and now with the help of Sweet Blessings, underprivileged children are blessed with the birthday cake of their dreams.

Sweet Blessings is a non-profit ministry started by Ashley Gann, located in Lexington, KY, that creates birthday cakes for children and kids living in poverty or with life threatening illnesses.

The organization is religious in nature, and Gann says her mission is to convey Christ’s love for children by creating unforgettable birthday cakes.

Gann started Sweet Blessings in 2011 and has been building up the ministry ever since. Before she knew what she wanted to do she went to culinary school for a while, and then got a public health job working in non-profit in the health field.  

It was not until one Sunday at church, when her pastor was speaking of city outreach that she realized making cakes could help make a difference.

“I felt God telling me I need to take more time making a difference and less time making a living,” said Gann.

Gann wanted to do something different. She did research on other outreach programs but none of them like Sweet Blessings. Many other ministries provide for children with life threatening illnesses,  but Sweet Blessings provides for both life threatening illnesses and children living in poverty. 90% of the children Sweet Blessings caters to  are those living in poverty.

Children who are in need are referred to Sweet Blessings by churches, schools or social workers. All cakes at Sweet Blessings are made with the referred child in mind. The cakes are extravagant and either multi-tiered or three dimensional, and all covered in fondant.

The cakes are then decorated with the child’s favorite color, and things the child likes such as sports, hobbies, video games or movies.

“We want to be a blessing to these children and families and for these children to know on their day, their biggest day of the year… they are loved and they are special,” Gann said.

Sweet Blessings is a nonprofit that partners with different churches in Lexington, including First Christian Church and Maxwell Street Presbyterian Church to help make the cakes.

Students can volunteer at Presbyterian Church on Tuesdays to help with the baking of cakes. All the money that goes in to making the cakes comes from donations.

Family science senior Chelsea Wilson is a regular when it comes to volunteering at Sweet Blessings. She heard about it through her sorority when Gann came to speak. She then did research on a way she could volunteer/intern and has been interning there since the beginning of the spring semester.

“It’s a fantastic way to help a segment of our community that will be long lasting and impactful. We hear about how much the children love the cakes they get, and you know they feel so special that this cake was made just for them based on their unique interests.

No one cake is the same and each one is a labor of love,” Wilson said. Wilson says she enjoys interning at Sweet Blessing and would recommend other students to volunteer.

“It’s a walking distance from campus, Ashley can use all the help she can get, and it is so rewarding. A lot of us find it therapeutic as well,” Wilson said.

 Gann says that since Sweet Blessing is a non-profit, all donations and volunteers make a difference.

“We get individual donations, grants whenever we can, and we actually have our largest fundraiser of the year coming up,” said Gann.

Sunday afternoon May 1, Sweet Blessings will be having their annual Great Cake Race. There will be a 5K and a one mile race. Packet pick up and registration will begin at 2:30 p.m. and the race will begin at 4 p.m. Students are encouraged to participate.

“Our first year in 2011 we served one hundred sixty-three children…and last year, in 2015, we served over fifteen hundred seventy children… we are growing exponentially, and I think that one of the reasons we are able to do that is because of all the fabulous volunteers that come from UK,” Gann said.