BEREA, Ohio — The owner of Three Girls Cupcake Shoppe, Maria Brenders, is big on birthdays. She's a firm believer in "everybody should have cake on their birthday!"
"I make a big deal about my own children's birthdays," Brenders said. "Everybody should celebrate the day they were born, and if you can't do that, somebody should do it for you."
She has taken her love for both birthdays and baking and has found a new way to give back to those who may not get a chance to celebrate their special day.
Every month, Brenders and her Shoppe donates custom cupcakes to the foster children of Ohio Guidstone's main campus in Berea.
"We started out with 40 children, and it has never gone down it's only gone up. We are at 50 kids right now," said Brenders.
The children who have a birthday each month receive a specially decorated cupcake. That includes all of the children in the foster care program receiving a cupcake, too -- ensuring everyone feels special, birthday or not.
Since last fall, Brenders has donated hundreds of cupcakes to the foster care program for children ages six to eighteen.
She says nothing brings her more joy than seeing their faces light up every month on delivery day.
"It doesn't matter what age they are. They love it! They could be 16, and they get a dinosaur on their cupcake, and they're like, 'this is awesome.'"
And while the cupcakes seem like a small, sweet gesture of kindness -- they are making a big impact by making sure foster kids never feel forgotten, especially on their special day.
