It’s food blogger bake sale day – and a rainy, cloudy one here in Chicago. If you’re willing to brave the elements to help raise funds to eliminate childhood hunger and take home a sweet treat, visit us from 12-3pm at The Poison Cup (1128 W. Armitage Avenue) in Lincoln Park.

Why is this so important? Here are the numbers:

• More than 17 million kids in America are at risk of hunger. That’s nearly 1 in 4.
• 15.5 million kids in America live in poverty.
• 20.1 million children benefit from SNAP (food stamps).
• 19 million kids get a free or reduced-price school lunch on an average school day.
• Only 9.4 million kids get a free or reduced-price school breakfast on an average school day.
• Just 1 in 6 eligible kids get free summer meals.

If you aren’t able to make it to a local bake sale and would like to contribute, please make a donation online. No amount is too small. Every cookie sold and every dollar donated can make a huge impact.  Here are some examples:

• $1 can help provide a hungry child with 10 healthy meals.
• $4 can help provide a child facing hunger with a backpack full of healthy food over a weekend when school meals are not available.
• $9 can help connect a child with healthy lunches during summer when school is out.
• $35 can help a child care center provide free afterschool snacks and suppers to at-risk children all year long.
• $65 can provide a grab-n-go breakfast cart to an elementary school so that every student starts every school day with a healthy meal.

A few of you have mentioned that you’d like to be a part of the sale but you live outside of Chicago. There are sales happening all over the country, so take a peek at the list below and see if there’s a bake sale in your hometown:

Alabama
Hosted by Alison and Jason of Ingredients, Inc and The Messy Epicure (Birmingham)
On the corner of 18th Street and 29th Avenue in downtown Homewood (10:00 – 3:00)

Alaska
Hosted by Laura of What’s for Dinner Mom?

Arizona
Hosted by Janet of La Due Crew (Scottsdale)
Scottsdale 5th and Wine (7051 E. 5th Avenue Scottsdale, AZ 85251)

Arkansas
Hosted by Christie of Fancy Pants Foodie (North Little Rock)
6th and Main, North Little Rock – Adjacent to Argenta Certified Arkansas Farmers’ Market

California
Hosted by Gaby of What’s Gaby Cooking (Los Angeles)
BLD Restaurant (7450 Beverly Boulevard Los Angeles CA 90036) (11:30am – 2pm)

Hosted by Anita, Annelies, Shauna and Irvin (San Francisco)
18 Reasons, 593 Guerrero St, San Francisco, CA 94110 (10 AM – 6 PM)
Kiehl’s, 2360 Fillmore St, San Francisco CA 94115 (12 PM – 4PM)

Hosted by Marie of Meandering Eats (San Diego)
Great News! Discount Cookware and Cooking School (Pacific Plaza – 1788 Garnet Avenue San Diego, CA 92109) 10:00 – 2:00

Hosted by Veronica of Muy Bueno Cookbook (Valencia)
Westfield Valencia Town Center Shopping Center – Sisley’s and TGIF entrance (24201 West Valencia Blvd. Valencia, Ca 91355)
3pm – 7pm

Hosted by Charlie of Charlie Bakes (Palo Alto)
Town and Country Village (in Palo Alto) near Peet’s coffee (10am – 4pm)

Colorado
Hosted by Yvette of Muy Bueno Cookbook (Littleton)
Highlands Ranch Music Arts Festival at Civic Green Park (11 a.m.-8 p.m)

Florida
Hosted by Renée of Flamingo Musings (Miami)
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, 10901 Old Cutler Road, Coral Gables FL from 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m

Hosted by Julie of The Little Kitchen (Central Florida)
Cork and Olive Wine Bar & Store (storefront) located at 4247 W. Lake Mary Blvd in Lake Mary

Georgia
Hosted by Tami of Running with Tweezers (Atlanta)
Phipps Plaza – in front of the Williams-Sonoma store during the Luxury Living Show. (10 am – onwards)

Illinois
Hosted by Maris of In Good Taste (Chicago)
The Poison Cup 1128 W Armitage Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60614 (Time: 12:00 – 3:00)

Kansas
Hosted by Nikki of Adventures in Baking (Lawrence)
1729 Massachusetts Street, Lawrence, KS, 66044 (8am – 1pm)

Massachusetts
Hosted by Kathy of Mother May Have (Somerville/Boston)

Minnesota
Hosted by Kate of Kate in the Kitchen (Minneapolis/St.Paul)
Midtown Global Market, 920 East Lake Street in Minneapolis, MN 55407 (11am – 4pm)

Missouri
Hosted by Stef of Cupcake Project, Kimberly of Rhubarb and Honey and Andrew of Andrew Mark Veety (St. Louis)
Sappington Farmers’ Market (8400 Watson Road St. Louis) from 10-2

Nevada
Hosted by Julie of Peanut Butter and Julie / Julie Anne’s All Natural Granola
Kiehl’s at Forum Shoppes at Caesars 3500 Las Vegas Blvd. South 89109 (12:00 – 5:00pm)

New Jersey
Hosted by Amanda of Our Italian Kitchen
Heaven Hill Farm and Garden Center (451 New Jersey Rt 94 Vernon, NJ 07462) 10:00 am – 4:00pm

New York
Hosted by Maggy of Three Many Cooks (New York City)
Kiehl’s 109 3rd ave New York, NY 10003

Hosted by Shelby of The Life & Loves of Grumpys Honeybunch (Albany)

North Carolina
Hosted by Matt of Green Eats Blog and Johanna of Johanna Kramer (Durham)
Vega Metals, 214 Hunt Street, Durham, NC (right around the corner from the Durham Farmers’ Market)

Ohio
Hosted by Rachel of Pearl Strings (Dayton, Ohio)
The Greene Shopping Centre in at their community booth from 12pm-4pm

Oklahoma
Hosted by Ashley of Cinnamon Vanilla (El Reno)
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Location: Red Barn @ Canadian County Historical Museum 300 S. Grand El Reno, OK 73036

Pennsylvania
Hosted by Julie of Ella Rose Entertaining (Philadelphia)
A Full Plate Cafe – 1040 N. American Street – Philadelphia, PA 19123

Texas
Hosted by Bonnie of Sweet Life Bake (Edinburg)
Edinburg Texas Market Days. (8am to 2pm)

Hosted by Stephanie of Sunny Sweets (Houston)
Kiehl’s 4076 Westheimer Rd., Houston, TX 77027

Washington
Hosted by Keren of Frantic Foodie (Seattle)
Uptown Metropolitan Market 100 Mercer St, Seattle (9:30 Am to Noon)

Hosted by Rachel of The Fromagette (Bellingham)
Village Books 1200 11th street Bellingham WA 98225 (10am – 12pm)

The Giveaway:

Pyrex has graciously donated an assortment of bakeware for us to sell/raffle at our sale to help raise additional funds for Share Our Strength. To celebrate this weekend and to help bring more attention to this important cause, I am giving the following items to one reader:

• Pyrex Metal Muffin Tin with Plastic Lid ($22)
• Pyrex Essential 6-Piece Mixing Bowl Set ($20)
• $25 gift certificate to Chef’s Catalog ($25)

Giveaway Requirements:

• Leave me a comment answering the question: what is your favorite baked good?
• You may NOT enter using multiple email addresses. Automatic disqualification.
• Additional entries must leave a separate comment [see below]
• Contest ends May 16, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. PST.
• Contest open to US States only.
• Winner will be chosen via random.org and will have 3 days to respond before disqualified and a new winner chosen.

Optional Extra Entries:

Additional entries can be earned by doing any of the following, giving you a total of 5 entries. Leave a separate comment for each of your entries.

• Follow Maris Callahan on Twitter and re-tweet the following message: I just entered to win a set of bake ware from @MarisCallahan at In Good Taste! http://bit.ly/iPh98w Join us to celebrate the #FBBakeSale
• Become a fan of In Good Taste on Facebook
• Share the link for this post (http://bit.ly/iPh98w) on your Facebook wall. Winner will need to verify.
• Make a donation – even $1 – to the Chicago Food Blogger Bake Sale team for Share Our Strength.

Tagged as: bake sale, baked goods, bakeware, baking, contest, fundraiser, giveaway, pyrex, share our strength