What began as an art project to incorporate students in the Berlin area, has blossomed into a community driven event to help provide a hot meal to those who need it most. Said art project is a 5-panel mural to be displayed on the walls of the Berlin, MD Visitor’s Center. The first panel was completed by the students at Buckingham Elementary and the second panel was reserved for Worcester Youth & Family Counseling Services. As the coordinators of the mural project began to work with the team at Worcester Youth & Family, they began to realize just how many kids rely on their school cafeteria to receive a daily hot meal. “We have always known that there are people who are in need within our community, but we just didn’t realize how many children depend on school being in session in order to eat a meal. Child hunger is something that we all have to focus on”, commented Robin Tomaselli, owner of Baked Dessert Café.

Tomaselli along with a full force of artists, culinary artists and business owners in Berlin have joined forces to make “Giving Tuesday” a day to remember for local residents. This event will be held at the St. Paul United Methodist Church located at 405 Flower Street in Berlin from 2-5pm on Tuesday, November 29th. The Men’s Outreach group from St. Paul, who provide many fundraising based events throughout the year, have taken the lead on preparing all of the hams and turkeys that have been supplied for this dinner.  The Men’s Outreach group and participating culinary artists plan to prepare enough food for approximately 200 people.

So many people have asked, “How can we contribute to this event?” Great news! There are actually several ways to be a part of the giving for this special event and they are listed below:

  1. Mark Huey has donated all of his artwork that is currently on display at Baked Dessert Café towards the cause. Bonus: you get to contribute and take a beautiful piece of work home!
  2. Bungalow Love is selling hand-blown icicle glass ornaments made by Holden Decker and all proceeds will go to benefit this special event. Double bonus: pick up your new artwork from Baked and an icicle ornament from Bungalow Love, take home two new prizes and contribute to this amazing fundraiser!
  3. Baked Dessert Café always has a charity jar on their front counter and this month’s proceeds will benefit the Berlin Artists Giving Back dinner. Triple bonus: Artwork by Mark Huey, icicle ornament made by Holden Decker, donate to the charity jar and pick up a few fresh baked cookies… you get the idea.

All left over money not spent for this special event will be distributed to other organizations within the local community. For more information about this event and how you can get involved, please contact Robin Tomaselli by email at info@bakeddessertcafe.com.

Contributing Artists and Local Businesses:

Atlantic Hotel

Atlantic Retreat

Baked Dessert Café

Berlin Butcher Shoppe

Berlin Coffee House

Berlin Printery

Blacksmith

Brooklyn Baking Barons

Bruder Hill

Bungalow Love

Burley Tavern

Church Mouse Thrift Shop

Fins Ale House & Raw Bar

The Globe

Shumar Farms

Si’culi Rustic Italian Kitchen

St. Pauls United Methodist Church