On The Up: Rotorua community gets behind Big Bake Off for Starship children’s hospital

Sophie Blick and her eldest son, Finn Blick.

A Reporoa mum is whipping up tray after tray of sweet treats to thank the hospital that saved her son’s life.

Throughout June, Sophie Blick and the Reporoa Playcentre team are selling boxes of baked goods as part of Starship children’s hospital’s Big Bake Off.

When she spoke to the Rotorua Daily Post, she was just $1 shy of reaching their $4000 fundraising goal.

“I’m pretty tempted to just go on and add a dollar myself,” Blick said.

But with her community rallying behind her, she was confident her target would be met.

Blick’s eldest son was born with coronal craniosynostosis, a condition where a baby’s skull bones join together too early. At just 9 months, Finn had skull remodelling surgery at Starship.

Now 6 years old and thriving, Finn still had to return to the Auckland hospital for check-ups, and while more surgeries lay ahead, Blick said her family would be forever grateful to all those involved in his care.

“It was a pretty overwhelming time as a whole,“ she said.

“During our visits, our focus is always on our beautiful boy.

“It’s not until afterwards when you are like, ‘I’m not even sure if I said thank you’,” she said.

When Blick came across the Starship Big Bake Off fundraiser, she saw it as the perfect way to give back and involve her son in something they both love.

“My son and I love baking together, so it felt like a really meaningful and perfect way to get involved and say thank you,” she said.

Nine-month-old Finn Blick receiving care at Starship hospital.

The bake-off challenge tests creativity and baking skills, while also fundraising for the more than 150,000 New Zealand kids who need Starship’s help.

Blick said she would do one big bake a week based on orders from Rotorua businesses, and others in the playcentre team were also baking.

Each box, priced at $12, contained at least four sweet treats ranging from cupcakes to citrus slice to Finn’s famous chocolate chip cookies.

Reporoa-based timber company PermaPine Rotorua had ordered about 100 boxes and was matching dollar for dollar the donations made by staff, Blick said.

Blick was “overwhelmed” by the “instant support” the Rotorua community provided.

“If anything, we have to stop taking orders because we can’t fill them as fast as we get them,” she said.

The first sweet boxes made by Sophie Blick and Reporoa Playcentre.

Support had come in not just from current Reporoa Playcentre families, but also from those whose children previously attended.

“I’m really grateful that the people at the playcentre jumped on to help me.”

Blick had been part of the playcentre community for more than five years, with Finn previously attending and her youngest, Max, still there.

Reporoa Playcentre president Caitlin Crossley said it had been the easiest fundraiser to get everybody on board for.

“Because any of us mums could need Starship at any time, we are all super happy to jump behind and help raise money,” she said.

Pak’nSave Taupō donated ingredients for those making the boxes.

Starship Foundation chief executive Jo Simon said they were “very grateful” and expressed “a huge thank you” to Blick and the Reporoa community for their fundraising efforts.

Starship cares for children from all over New Zealand, treating everything from minor illnesses and injuries to the most critical conditions. The funds raised would help advance medical training, buy cutting-edge equipment or fund breakthrough medical research.

Blick said the care her family continued to receive from Starship left a lasting impression.

“As a parent, just knowing they are there, ready and willing to help is the greatest comfort imaginable,” she said.

Visit starshipbigbakeoff.org.nz/t/reporoa-playcentre to donate or starshipbigbakeoff.org.nz to sign up for the Big Bake-Off before the end of July.