Cake Ladies by Jodi Rhoden

10 months ago

Happy New Year!

I want to share with you this note I received from a friend who has relocated from Asheville to Pittsburgh, and works in a needle exchange program there (Prevention Point Pittsburgh), and bought a copy of Cake Ladies for a beloved volunteer there. I have saved and re-read this email so many times, because it reminds me of who I am and what I care about and why I bake and why I started Short Street Cakes and why I wrote the book and what my highest hopes for any of my work could be. Thank you, Sarah Danforth, for reminding me of my purpose and joy. May we each find and be reminded of these in our creative expressions, and may the New Year bring many more opportunities for each of us to use the gifts of creativity that we ALL possess in ways that are, as Sarah says, sacred and essential.

"Hi Jodi,

Just wanted to let you know that I gave my friend Rachel her copy of Cake Ladies yesterday, and she burst into tears at the inscription and totally loved the book. It’s real, you know (I mean, of course YOU know), the ways that baking sweets for people in our community is both a sacred and essential act of showing love and commitment. Yesterday at the exchange we had a holiday cookie table (cookie tables are a thing up here in Pittsburgh) for the needle exchange, and the ways that people were so excited and sharing stories about cookie tables from their family’s past…just that baking is so much more than just baking, and I’m so glad that I got to give your book to my friend and volunteer who really epitomizes that.

Thanks for all the great work that you do in the world. It’s a light that shines, and is needed.

love,

sarah d.

p.s. remember when you were getting started with short street and you used to bring cupcakes to the Ahope shelter? That meant so much to the people there, that they got to have beautiful baked goods. I just remembered that and wanted to remind you of it, too." ... See MoreSee Less