Charity Profile: Operation Sugar

 
In recent years Rachel Jenkinson had begun cake decorating as a hobby. Having her own little ones she wanted to be able to make special birthday cakes – just like her mum did in her childhood.
 
 
 
During the process Rachel caught wind of an organization overseas that provided custom cakes to seriously ill children on their birthdays. The concept had such an impact on the mother of three that she went in search of a similar charity as her way of spreading “a little bit of joy to children who were going through such a tough time with their health”.
 
 
 
When no such service could be found and with a free few months of maternity leave up her sleeve, Rachel (who describes herself as a "grab the bull by the horns" type person) launched Operation Sugar in 2012.
 
 
 
“As I had been following forums, and meeting new people in the cake decorating community through my hobby, I had a ready-made contact list for getting the word out there to enlist volunteers. The volunteer registrations grew steadily and we now have over 500 bakers New Zealand wide.”
 
 
 
What was your primary purpose for creating your charity? And has this changed since its inception?
 
The primary purpose of Operation Sugar is to just brighten the day of the child, and their family. We provide free custom cakes and photography packages to seriously ill children or those who require frequent or extended hospitalisation. The application criteria is reasonably narrow as when the charity was formed I needed to ensure I had enough volunteers to cater to the amount of applications we received, however, as time goes on we would like to be able to broaden the application criteria to include more illnesses. Currently it is those that are classified as degenerative, malignant etc.
 
 
 
Did you encounter any roadblocks when setting up your charity? If so, how did you overcome these?
 
The red tape involved with registering the charity was a lot more in depth than what I could have believed and meant a lot of paperwork and going back and forth. However, I was thrilled when we finally had it done as I thought it was important obtain.
 
 
 
By what means do you promote your charitable work? How are you using social media to drive your message?
 
The majority of our promotion of Operation Sugar to date has been via social media, particularly Facebook which has helped it to spread like wildfire, especially initially when trying to grow our database of volunteers. We also foster good working relationships with hospital staff and with other like-minded organisations such as Child Cancer Foundation who refer families to us.
 
 
 
What has been the best advice given to you by a colleague in the charitable sector?
 
I have been very lucky to have been supported by people from across the board, including our sponsors Chelsea Sugar and also by Harvey Norman and Kiwicakes who provide thank you vouchers to our wonderful volunteers when they complete an assignment. My family has been an amazing support, and especially my husband!
 
 
 
What was your most rewarding experience in 2013?
 
2013 has been an amazing year. We provided just under 200 cakes during the year to children for their birthdays. It was so very rewarding that in such a short time we have gone from obscurity to being acknowledged on TV, in newspapers and magazines and to have gotten the word out to such an extent that we have been able to reach those families that we so dearly want to help by bringing a little bit of joy! The fact that it has been the success it has in such a short time has made me really proud!
 
 
 
What are your goals for the charity in 2014?
 
Our goals for 2014 are to take the things we've learnt from our first year and a half of operation to improve the service, iron out any kinks and work on fundraising a lot more. This will enable us to spend more time building relationships with the organisations and hospitals who can reach the families of New Zealand's sick children, resulting in more applications, more delicious cakes made and photographic memories provided! The other goal for 2014 is to increase the Operation Sugar administration team. It’s getting a little bit too large for just me - which is a great thing!
 
 
 
www.operationsugar.org.nz
www.facebook.com/operationsugar