When the coronavirus pandemic hit hard in mid-March of this year, Whitney Rutz did her best to help her family cope with the changing world. Two of her friends were diagnosed with the virus, she and her husband were self-isolating, and her 7-year-old daughter needed to find a sense of structure after her school closed.
“I was in a hole of despair,” Rutz, who lives in Portland, Oregon, told The Oregonian. “I cried a lot.”
So she asked her daughter to help her bake a massive cinnamon roll for the family to enjoy. She posted a photo of it on Instagram, and soon her followers asked her to make more for them, too.
“I’m an amateur baker,” she said. “The recipe isn’t original.”
She auctioned off a roll to benefit the Oregon Food Bank and ended up raising $300 for the first roll, and the person who lost the bid promised to pay $250 for a roll. Her friends and even some of her friends’ employers said they’d match future bids, and rolls sold for up to $1,215.
When she first started baking, Rutz hoped to raise $2,000 but ended up raising more than $30,000 through more than 50 rolls as of mid-May, according to CNN.
On top of raising funds for the food bank, she decided to donate a giant cinnamon roll to a health care worker for every $500 donated to the Oregon Food Bank via their website.
Susannah Morgan, the food bank’s CEO, told The Oregonian that Rutz’s unique way of raising money was an “amazing example” of people coming together to make a difference.
She plans to keep making rolls as long as people keep giving money to the food bank.
“Sometimes you have to create joy and spread it around,” Rutz told the Oregonian. “I don’t know where I’d be emotionally and mentally if I didn't have this project to steer me in such a positive direction.”