// BBC BUSINESS NEWS — FINANZA
The volunteers baking birthday cakes for children
Volunteers often tailor cakes to a child's favourite characters or interests
Volunteer bakers are paying out of their own pockets so children in need do not go without a cake on their birthdays.
Free Cakes for Kids Fareham and Gosport buys the ingredients, bakes and delivers cakes for young people whose families are unable to provide one.
Natalie Parker, who joined as a baker while on maternity leave in 2024 and now runs the group, said the thought of a child not having a birthday cake was "heart-breaking".
The group, part of a national network, said demand had risen and it was on the hunt for more volunteers.
Natalie Parker joined Free Cakes for Kids Fareham and Gosport while on maternity leave and now runs the group
Parker said she had seen the group advertised on Facebook and had thought about joining for a while.
"I was on maternity leave with my son and just wanted something to occupy my brain a bit, so I took the plunge," she told BBC Radio Solent.
She said her own son sometimes struggled to understand why other children would go without.
"I can't imagine my own son not having a birthday cake. When I'm baking them, he says to me, 'Why don't they?' He can't, as a child, see why," she said.