On May 17^th, we invited mothers and children from single parent households to participate in a baking lesson taught by pastry chefs from Shangri-La hotel.

We started preparation two-hours before the event.

The chefs look classy even while they are preparing the ingredients. So professional!

 

 

Second Harvest Japan prepared some presents for the participants.

We prepared items that will ease the burden of cooking as much as possible.

Shangri-La hotel provided us with cakes to include in the present package for the participants; we were very excited for the participants!

 

 

The event started and the children arrived.

They got to wear these tall hats – they looked like little pastry chefs themselves, even before they started baking!

 

 

Time to start baking! We made cookies this day.

The chef came up with an easy recipe so that it will be easy for the children to follow instructions.

The pattisier gave everybody some tips so that the cookies will turn out even yummier.

While preparing the cookie dough, the mothers enjoyed chatting so much that the chef needed to call out “everybody, are you listening to my instructions?” several times.

 

We had a little “question-and-answer session” while we waited for the cookies to be baked.

The children shyly but firmly nodded when the chef told them “let’s work together when you grow up, okay?”

 

After the cookies were baked, the participants decorated them with icing.

Take a look at how serious our little pastry chefs were:

 

 

The colorful icing aroused the children’s imagination.

The children were asking each other “do you have light blue?” “do you have yellow?” while decorating the cookies.

The cookies turned out very lovely.

 

 

The chef was very popular amongst the children.

They played together even after the baking lesson was over.

 

 

After the event, we handed the presents from 2HJ to the mothers.

As everybody from Shangri-La hotel sent them off, the children waved and said “bye-bye” many times.

 

Three hours had passed by so quickly!

Not only the children but also the mothers enjoyed this event, and we heard voices such as: “I would like to make these cookies for my child again.”

 

This event was carried out as a part of our “backpack program”, a program to fight child poverty.

Backpack programs are programs that originated in the U.S.

They are programs that hand food items to children at school, so that they have adequate meals in the weekends when school lunches are not provided.

 

It is difficult to do these kinds of activities at Japanese schools, so 2HJ is collaborating with education-related NPOs and NPOs supporting single mother households to hand food items to single mother households who are in need.

We aim to educate children on the joy of preparing and sharing meals as well as providing nutritional support through the backpack program.

We also hope that, by participating to these types of events, participants will recognize us as an organization that provides trustworthy support when they are in need in the future.