Stamford Bridge: Molly's bake sale for Salvation Army

Molly Barron, from Stamford Bridge, raised £60 through her efforts, half of which was given to the People’s Pantry foodbank and the other half to The Salvation Army.

“For my Brownies charity badge I wanted to do a bake sale because I love baking,” she said. “I made chocolate flapjacks, chocolate cake, muffins and biscuits then put them out the front of my house in the afternoon and waited for customers.

“I chose The Salvation Army because I wanted to help people who are homeless.”

Molly baking the goods for the bake sale (Image: Salvation Army) Mum Rachael added: “We put a post on the community page saying we were having a bake sale so friends and people in the community popped by. We also get a lot of dog walkers going past our house so had a lot of people stop to buy one and ask who she was raising money for.

“I am super proud of her. It was her idea and she designed the front of the stall, she put a lot of effort into it as well, she really thought out what she was going to bake and she sat out all afternoon waiting for people to go past.

“Molly is aware that there are a lot of people who are less fortunate than us and how lucky we are in terms of where we live and not having to worry about the food we buy.”

Molly baking the goods for the bake sale (Image: Salvation Army) Molly and Rachael were invited to a boxing session at York Masters Boxing Club, which is run by the Salvation Army’s outreach service manager Charlie Malarkey.

And this resulted in Molly finding a new passion for the sport.

“I got to do a bit of boxing which was fun – mum did it as well,” she said.

“I enjoyed it,” added Rachael. “All the ladies there were so lovely, really warm and welcoming and properly took Molly under their wing.  Molly said it was the best thing ever so Charlie has very kindly said we can come back and join the group. It was unexpected to find this new hobby, so we feel lucky.

“Charlie said he had used the money to buy lots of Greggs vouchers to distribute to people who were sleeping rough and he was going to tell them that Molly raised the money which I thought was really lovely.”

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Charlie, who this year won the York Community Pride Outstanding Contribution Award at the Press’ Community Pride Awards, said it was “fantastic” to meet the pair and he is “really pleased” they plan to return to the sessions.

“The money Molly raised was used to buy vouchers for food for people who are sleeping on the streets, I know how much they appreciated what Molly had done for them,” he said.

The boxing sessions are open to anyone who wants to join with a particular focus on people struggling with housing issues, mental health and addiction.

As well as the boxing and exercise classes, The Salvation Army continues to run its drop-in service from Lawrence Street where people who are homeless can sit in a warm space, get food and drink, clothing and signposting to various services in the city.