Recipe for happiness

Seniors Maddy Salgado and Cameron Collins and junior Sam Goulart come from diverse backgrounds but are united through a love of baking. Anteaters Sprinkling Happiness provides them with a space to feed that passion.

Founded in the summer of 2022, Anteaters Sprinkling Happiness began out of a lack of baking-related clubs on UC Irvine's campus. Salgado aimed to create an organization centered around her hobby, and soon the dream became a reality.

Co-presidents Salgado and Collins say the club has since become a place where like-minded Anteaters can come together and de-stress from university life while learning to become better bakers and giving back to the local community.

The service sector of the club is driven by Anteaters Sprinkling Happiness' partnership with For Goodness Cakes, a nonprofit where volunteers bake and deliver cakes for underprivileged youth, such as those in foster care, transitional housing and shelters.

Established in 2016, For Goodness Cakes has 29 chapters across the country, including one in Orange County that Anteaters Sprinkling Happiness members volunteer with when time permits, baking desserts to help children celebrate milestone events like birthdays.

"It's a fun way to exercise your skills as a baker while also being able to positively impact someone who may not necessarily have the means to afford those luxuries," says Salgado, who's majoring in biological sciences. "Those are things that can be taken for granted when you receive a birthday cake every year."

Halloween treats created by Anteaters Sprinkling Happiness members: cookies, brownies and a chocolate treat decorated as a bat. Steve Zylius/UC Irvine

Beyond their work with For Goodness Cakes, members of Anteaters Sprinkling Happiness are extending its impact with other service projects, such as baking dog and cat treats for local animal shelters and hosting "Cupcake for a Cause" fundraisers along Ring Road to donate a portion of their proceeds to various organizations like Laura's House, a nonprofit that aids victims of domestic violence.

While the club has found ways to merge their hobby with civic engagement, Salgado and Collins, as well as Goulart, president intern and current fundraising chair, maintain that the sense of community is what sets Anteaters Sprinkling Happiness apart.

The group's goal is to form bonds among Anteaters, fostered by social events and educational workshops, such as cake decorating competitions and lessons on new baking techniques. When asked about their favorite recipes, Salgado, Collins and Goulart cited cinnamon rolls, buttermilk biscuits and pumpkin bread, respectively.

Anteaters Sprinkling Happiness welcomes all students, regardless of baking level or experience.

"It's the whole being more than the sum of its parts," says Collins, a chemistry major. "There's plenty to worry about in the world and at school. Community is something that's harder to find elsewhere. What I want people to walk away with is that they had a good time and learned some stuff but, overall, that the people they met stick with them."

While Salgado and Collins will graduate at the end of this academic year, psychological science major Goulart hopes to build upon the foundation they have created to expand the club's horizons.

For instance, he intends to take member suggestions for future nonprofit collaborations. In inviting members to share their voices and who they would like to support and bake for, such as LGBTQ+ organizations, Goulart says, he would like to inspire his peers to go out into the world, create connections and learn that - even through baking - they can have a lasting impact on others.

"It's in the name. It's called Anteaters Sprinkling Happiness, and the happiness part is something that I never forget, because we're a baking club, sure, but at the end of the day, we bake for the community, to bring people together," Goulart says. "Even if it's just one person who shows up to the club and finds a community they love, then my job … is fulfilled. We are a baking club, but we are sprinkling happiness."

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