To raise money and help the homeless, University of Rhode Island Hillel students baked brownies to donate to the McAuley House in a Bake a Difference event.
Bake a Difference is one of several volunteer events Hillel hosts, according to first-year student Brenna Halper, a service engagement intern at Hillel and the organizer for Bake a Difference. Hillel will hold different types of Bake a Difference events in the upcoming weeks. They will bake various goods such as brownies, cookies and challah bread.
“I feel strongly about helping those in need,” Halper said. “A lot of us come for various reasons, but for me, this is really about helping people who need it and can’t necessarily help themselves.”
Hillel has hosted baking programs for the McAuley House in previous years, according to Halper. By hosting another baking event, the relationship between Hillel and the McAuley House is stronger.
Volunteers were split into five groups, guided by Halper. Everyone was given tasks, such as greasing pans and adding ingredients to the batter. Sometimes students would switch positions during the process.
Making the batter took around an hour as the groups had different-sized mixing bowls and baking sheets. Once mixing was finished, members filled their sheets to bake the brownies. In total, there were 80 brownies, 65 were cooled to send to the McAuley House and 15 were to be shared with each other.
“There are so many people in need, and giving back makes a world of difference,” third-year student Baya Ginsburg said.
Working with other volunteers to bake food and having the opportunity to share them with others was enjoyable, according to Ginsburg.
“I love the feeling like you’re making a difference, but also getting [to be] a part of the community,” Ginsburg said. “I think it’s very important to connect with people and also make people aware of things they can be doing on their own, to give to others.”
Hillel needed a kitchen to host Bake a Difference, according to Drake Douglas, the vicar at St. Augustine Episcopal Church. When they told him about Hillel’s baking event, he agreed to lend the church’s kitchen to the students. He considered it a great opportunity to open the space up to the Jewish population and give back.
It’s important to help out, especially in a religious life context for URI students, according to Douglas. Students have an opportunity to participate in non-religious activities with people from other backgrounds. Even if people worship differently, at the end of the day, seeing people think about others, they realize they have a lot in common.
“It’s great to just be able to sort of open the space up, largely to the Jewish population, to be sure that people know that they can come here anytime, like any other community member,” Douglas said.
It can be easy to become overwhelmed in our lives with the challenges people have to face, according to Douglas. Giving back to the needs of other people is a great way to gain perspective outside of themselves and remembering the fact that other people exist too.
“This is a world where we’re increasingly told that everything is sort of about the individual things,” Douglas said. “Shared humanity in a lot of ways, and so to just acknowledge, sort of the truth and reality that everyone likes is just maybe the way it feels a little bit less scary.”
The next Bake a Difference event will be held on Feb. 13 at 5:30 p.m. at the Hillel Center.
