Teen baker sweetens lives making desserts for those in need

Vedika Jawa was 13 when she contacted a San Francisco Bay Area homeless shelter and offered to bake for its residents. They told her to come back when she was older. She wouldn’t take no for an answer, and she went all the way to the shelter’s CEO. That was the start of Bake4Sake, her student-run nonprofit that distributes baked desserts to those in need. During the coronavirus pandemic, her project grew more than ever. The now 16-year-old high school junior has enlisted more than 100 volunteers who work with 15 homeless shelters in 10 locations across the United States.