The first segment in my series, ‘Ordinary Heroes: Making a Difference,’ aired Tuesday evening. It featured a local non-profit that bakes cakes for homeless children. Watch the video and enjoy! And, nominate the next hero…someone who is making a difference in your community!

To most of us, birthdays are taken for granted, something we might not even think about until that annual date arrives for celebration. But believe it or not, there are some children who can’t celebrate a birthday because they don’t know when it is. A one-of-a-kind bakery is changing that and making a difference.

Imagine not knowing how old you are. “You get choked up just thinking about it,” said Connie Malone, a volunteer at Sweet Blessings Bakery in Frankfort. “Believe it or not, there are children in our community that fit that bill. I have heard a child who reminded their parent, ‘Do you know how old I am?’ The child had had a birthday and the parent had tried to not make any kind of special day out of it.”

“There was one child who was collecting aluminum cans to cash in to buy her own birthday cake,” said Ashley Boyd Gann, who came up with the idea for the bakery. “That’s the one that always still kind of hits me.”

Gann said something else tugged at her heart, a message she kept getting in church. “You need to spend more time making a difference and less time making a living,” she said.

But how? “I was like, ‘I will make cakes! Out of nowhere,” said Gann.

So, Gann took a leap of faith into something she knew nothing about. “I had never made a cake before other than box mix and a tub of icing,” she said. “One day, we were sitting in church and our minister was talking about inner city outreach and what our church was doing in Lexington.”

Ad that was it. Sweet Blessings was born. Gann would give children living in poverty something they might never get a birthday cake. So, with a few tools, and a lot of heart, she started baking. And the referrals came pouring in.

The organization is run entirely on donations and volunteers. Anyone can come out and help bake a cake for the day. They even let rookies help out, because as Gann says, its not making the cake perfect, its about making it special. “We could all sit here and tell you everything thats wrong with every cake made, but the truth is, the kids love them!” she said.

“It’s a pure way to give since we are not involved in actually seeing the child get the cake,” said Malone.

Sweet Blessings is always looking for new volunteers and especially donations. If you’re interested in helping, you can check out their Facebook page or their website,http://sweetblessingscakes.org/aboutus.htm.