Kids spend summer holidays baking sweet treats for charity

Kerikeri 10-year-olds, from left, Emma Fulton Kain, Kiki Shimozono-Reid and Xanthe Jones are putting their summer holidays to use by raising money for good causes. Photo / Peter de Graaf

While most kids are itching to get to the beach — and who’d blame them given the dismal summer Northland’s had so far? — some are instead baking furiously and raising money for charity.

Kerikeri 10-year-olds Emma Fulton Kain, Kiki Shimozono-Reid and Xanthe Jones have set up a group they call Good Cause Baking to do just that.

Thursday was their second foray into the world of fundraising, this time with a stall laden with scones, cupcakes, yoyos, brownies, fruit pie and more outside the St John op shop on Cobham Rd.

Kiki said 30 per cent of their proceeds would be donated to St John with the rest used to buy ingredients for their next baking stall.

The trio found the recipes online and did the baking themselves, though Kiki’s mum helped with the oven and the mixer.

The brownies and yoyos were proving the most popular, she said.

Their venture was also a good maths refresher ahead of the new school year because they were calculating how much each treat cost to make.

That way, they could set a price that covered their costs while making sure a healthy amount was left for charity.

While Thursday turned into a rare sunny day Kiki said they weren’t sorry to be missing out on beach time.

“We thought it would be nice to do something for the community.”

Emma said it was better to work and, besides, it was a good practice run for being grown-ups.

“It’s like preparing for when we’re older. You have to get used to working, cooking, and making your own lunch and dinner,” she said.

The treats sold out by 1pm with the girls raising $80 for St John. Their previous outing made more than $100 for the SPCA. They have yet to decide which charity will benefit next time.

All three will be in Year 6 at Kerikeri Primary School this year.