New Athlone group bakes treats for asylum seekers

There's a kitchen slogan which reads, 'Bake Someone Happy'. And that's exactly what a new local group is aiming to do after it was set up to provide cakes and other sweet treats to people living in direct provision at Athlone's asylum seeker accommodation centre.

The 'Consider it Cakes' initiative began in Dublin last year and its local branch was started in November by Athlone native Jamie Deery.

While it's currently focusing on providing baked goods for children at the centre in Lissywollen, Jamie is hoping that if more volunteers come on board it can eventually be expanded to offer similar treats to people in homeless accommodation.

The group currently has around 12 bakers involved locally, and it held a successful Christmas treat day as its first event in December.

Operating on the basis that "everyone deserves a birthday cake," the 'Consider it Cakes' initiative was founded by Franciska Acs and her partner Daragh Kiely last June.

Jamie Deery, who is from the Ballymahon Road in Athlone but currently lives in Cork city, first helped to start a Cork branch after a housemate of hers spotted a post about it on Facebook.

"I didn't know much about it at the time, as it had only just started in Dublin, but I thought it was a really nice idea," she said.

Jamie explained that you don't have to be an experienced or especially skilled baker to get involved, as it's the thoughtful gesture of making a baked gift for a complete stranger that's most important.

While she enjoys cooking, she said she would not regard herself as an expert baker.

"My first bake was a caramel cake, and it was a beginner-level cake. Some people might think you have to be really good at baking to do this but you don't, at all!"

"In Cork, myself and four other girls baked cakes and dropped them to the (direct provision) centre to get the ball rolling. So that's how it got started there."

Given that her home in Athlone is not far from the direct provision centre, Jamie was keen to start a group in her native town, and did so by spreading the word on social media last November.

Covid restrictions have added to the challenge of gaining volunteers, as involvement with the group currently has to be limited to those within 5km of the Lissywollen centre, but the number of people helping out is slowly starting to grow.

"At the moment we have about 12 bakers, and other people who don't want to bake but want to be involved, so they will be drivers, or they might make Rice Krispie buns or things like that.

"We're not at the stage where we can make birthday cakes yet, because there are over 100 kids at the centre in Athlone and you'd really need more volunteers if you were to be able to make each of them a birthday cake. So we're sticking to organising 'treats days' for the moment."

Jamie was home for Christmas and she baked for the first Athlone 'treats day' in December, along with Aine Flood, Catriona and Peggy Dooley, Gail Farrell, and Jamie's Mum, Finola.

Festive creations such as Christmas muffins, a gingerbread house, and a Yule Log were delivered to the centre at the time and Jamie said there was a great reaction. "It went really well, and the kids were delighted," she said.

From her earlier involvement in baking and delivering cakes in Cork, she knew how much a gesture like this can mean to people.

"You sometimes get WhatsApp messages from, say, the mum of the child that you baked for and it might be a voice message of the child saying thank you. It's really cute.

"You get really nice reactions, and they might send you photos or videos of the child smiling. It's such a nice feeling, and it can make your day.

"It's mad to think that something as small as baking a cake would make such a difference to people, so that really makes it worthwhile. And you get to meet people as well, and hear different stories."

The next event planned in Athlone is a treat day on March 27, and there will also be an Easter drawing competition for the children with prizes for the winners planned for April 11.

Jamie said that she would love to see more volunteers getting involved to help grow the initiative locally.

"We really need more people, to get the cakes going. At the moment we can only do the treats days, because we're limited by the number of people in the group. They'll probably be lifting the 5km restriction fairly shortly, so we would ask anyone in the Athlone area to consider getting involved."

There is a 'Consider it Cakes Athlone' WhatsApp group and the aim, in time, is for Jamie to post specific requests for cakes to the WhatsApp group and people who are willing and available can then offer to make them.

"We realise that people can't be baking, say, ten times a month, but even if they were available once a month, or once every two months, that would be fine. People should know that they don't have to do it all the time."

It's hoped that, if the Athlone group becomes a success, the initiative can then be expanded to link in with local homeless charities and possibly start creating goodies for people in other locations in Westmeath.

If you're interested, you can find more information on the 'Consider it Cakes' Instagram page (@consider_it_cakes), on Facebook, or by emailing Jamie (jamie.deery@hotmail.com)