Sadie Nelson and Jonah Miller took a creative spin on the national club Challah for Hunger and rebranded it as Bulldogs Baking Change. Photo by Faith Delamarter.
SAMANTHA RITTENBERG | STAFF REPORTER | srittenberg@butler.edu
Members of the Butler community are achieving extraordinary things, both on and off campus. From first-years to alumni to administrators and back, each Bulldog has a story to tell. Read on to discover the next of our Bulldogs of Butler through a Q&A style interview.
Sadie Nelson, a junior marketing and entrepreneurship major, is the president of Bulldogs Baking Change and Jonah Miller, a sophomore risk management insurance major, is the treasurer. The nonprofit organization allows students to bond over their love for baking by coming together to bake Challah once a month and then sell it to students and faculty. Their recent name change to Bulldogs Baking Change from Challah for Hunger highlighted the club’s mission to make the organization fully inclusive.
THE BUTLER COLLEGIAN: What is Bulldogs Baking Change?
SADIE NELSON: We are a nonprofit organization under Mazon, which fights food insecurity on college campuses and in the surrounding areas across the country.
JONAH MILLER: Once a month, we make a baked good — usually bread with some flavor inspired by it. This [past] month, we did garlic butter. The next day, we sell [the baked goods] on campus, and all the profits go toward Mazon.
SN: We [also] have advocacy events to raise awareness and educate people about food insecurity. We have had social events which work as fundraisers [and even] did craft for a cause [where we] made little food clay magnets.
TBC: Do you donate anywhere else, too?
SN: Members [get to] choose … between different local charities with food pantries. [Mazon] takes a percentage of everything that is raised through the organization’s website [and] when people pay online for the overall charity and maintaining these clubs.
TBC: What made you join the organization?
SN: I joined my first year because I thought that fighting food insecurity would be [a] really good thing to help out with. People do not realize how big of a problem it is on college campuses, and the food pantry here on campus is probably not well known to a lot of people.
JM: I just enjoy baking. It is not something you can do very easily on a college campus with dorm rooms. Being able to fight food insecurity while you are [baking] is definitely a bonus.
TBC: What made you choose to rebrand?
SN: [The club] was [originally called] Challah for Hunger, and then it was taken over by Mazon. On campus, we refer to the club itself as Bulldogs Baking Change because it is much more inviting.
JM: [Many] people do not know what Challah is, so that is why we rebranded. We do not always make Challah either, [but] it is a majority of what we do make. For Valentine’s Day last year, we did chocolate-covered pretzels and cookies. We did cake pops once [too and] that was popular.
TBC: How do you make students feel welcome who do not identify as Jewish?
JM: The mission of food insecurity is not delegated to just one group of people. Being able to help a large span of people and working with other groups is important. The club is not Jewish in nature nor [its] mission either.
TBC: Have you made any new connections through the club?
SN: The [current] board has a variety of different grade[s]. I do not think I would have crossed paths with some of them otherwise, but getting to know them [through Bulldogs Baking Change] has been fun.
JM: I would say the same. These people are not people I normally see, but when you are under the common enjoyment of baking and the mission of food security, it all comes together really well.
Bulldogs Baking Change brings students together through their common interest in baking and provides a home away from home all while giving a portion of the money to a great cause.
Students interested in joining Bulldogs Baking Change can find out more information through their Engage page or the Bulldogs Baking Change Instagram page.
