Where Can I Take Baked Goods?

I think all of the places you listed would love to have fresh baked goods. I doubt the police or fire departments would be skeptical, I think they would be thankful people are thinking of them. The same for the homeless shelters.

I wouldn't bring anything to the hospitals unless it is for the staff, you just don't know why someone is in there and if they have to follow a special diet, etc..

I don't think anyone will take anything baked. Prepackaged yes. Too many crazy people out there these days. Sad to say.

How about your mechanic, the butcher, your green grocer, Girl Scout group, electric company, sanitation worker, mail man, city hall, city counsel, library, dry cleaners. Just do a who are the people in your neighborhood type of thing.

Also if you are really keen on baking consider adopting another season/ holiday. There are so many cookies on hand near Christmas. Your efforts would stand out and be that much more appreciated.

F. B.

Homeless shelter! I'm sure all of those places could find uses for it, but homeless shelters and food pantries really need the help this time of year.

well, i'm betting that if you make a habit of baking goodies and taking them to the police or fire depts near you on a regular basis, they'd stop being skeptical and start getting really excited!
i've cut way back on the baking, but when i was in the delighted throes of baking madly for the holidays, everybody i knew got pretty tins filled with strawberry bread, cookies and fudge. if you don't have enough family and friends nearby to fill pretty tins with treats, then i think nursing homes, homeless shelters and anywhere that volunteers are logging in time over the holidays (people working in soup kitchens, food banks or animal rescues come to mind) would love to have someone supporting THEM while they support others.
couldn't hurt to print out little ingredient lists to tuck into the plates or tins so that food allergy folks can take note.
enjoy your baking marathon!
:) khairete
S.

Our Girl Scouts took baked goods to the senior center, fire and police stations. I also gave baked goodies to teachers/staff at school, our family friends, the women in my book club, my housekeeper and the lady who does my nails.

the homeless shelter sounds like it would be a good idea. you could always call these places too to see if baked goods would be appreciated and then show up with the goods.
if you bring baked goods to the hospital or nursing home you could specify that its for the staff. so they can have a holiday sweet treat while working. (and you don't have to worry about dietary restrictions)

Call your local soup kitchen, homeless shelter, and women's shelter and ask them. We help serve dinner each year at a soup kitchen run by a church and they serve huge pans of baked goods for dessert. I'm sure a place like this would love for you to donate your baked goods. But call first to talk to the person in charge and set up the details.

Shelters for homeless veterans - they take stuff from me all the time - it's where I always take leftovers after a community event

Food pantries

Fire/police - we do it all the time in our town. The last people worried about being poisoned are law enforcement! Also consider state police if there's a barracks near you, because they don't have the local town resident loyalty.

Check with police domestic violence officers - maybe they can take your baked goods to a shelter for abused women. You can't - they won't give out the addresses, but maybe there is an umbrella organization that will take them on your behalf.

Senior citizen centers - holiday luncheons

Soup kitchens

No hospitals - they won't accept, and they have their own kitchen - and they have enough food. Go for the needy who need you more.

Nursing homes - may be a question for the reasons you mention. There are other things they need more, but check for individual requirements.

Groups that cater to new immigrants and new Americans - for example, we have a Latino service center which has a food pantry, a furniture/housewares "pantry" and a clothing/children's items "pantry". With all the anti-immigrant fervor, they need you more than ever. They will often do community meals and would be happy to have desserts.

Teacher appreciation at your local school? Especially the middle and high schools, where parents aren't as involved on a daily basis and kids have entire teams of teachers.

Make a little package for your letter carrier, your garbage collection guy, your newspaper delivery person, the attendant at the town dump/recycling center, and your FedEx/UPS drivers. These people are out in all kinds of weather and many are delivering heavy loads at this time of year. So many people fail to tip them, and a little homemade stuff plus even a small cash gift would go a long way!

Nice of you to do things for others!!

Try making up gift baskets of your baked goods for your neighbors.

I would call first just to be sure but the places I would look at would be:

Your local soup kitchen
Homeless shelters (many cities have more then one, often with separate facilities for single adults and families with children, so there could be multiple options for donations here)
Domestic violence safe houses (call for drop off locations since some locations are secure)
Foster care facilities
nursing homes

Have fun spreading the holiday cheer and Blessed Be you and yours

Probably police or firefighters or girl scouts. Even your local supermarket. Or a homeless place.

My first thought was the PD and FD but I too think they may not take something from someone they don't know personally. It's just a sad fact of the times.

Maybe call around to some of the churches. Our church gets donations of sweets for the services on Sunday mornings. Or you can ask them if there is a needy family you could maybe drop off locally for a few weeks. They may have a group that serves the homeless locally and you could help that way too.

I wish I was a good baker. That's nice of you. Merry Christmas!

My church donates baked good to the local homeless shelter and to Meals On Wheels. You might call either of those organizations.

The homeless shelter takes any baked goods we send, and Meals on Wheels just asks that they not be too gooey/sticky, because that can be hard for some elderly to eat. And MOW is ecstatic if you know how to bake sugar-free goods for their diabetic clients.

We send baked goods to the soup kitchens in the city. They never turn them down. I also supply cookies for after church coffee from time to time. The teachers love it when parents send baking for the staff room at school.

Updated

We send baked goods to the soup kitchens in the city. They never turn them down. I also supply cookies for after church coffee from time to time. The teachers love it when parents send baking for the staff room at school.

Updated

We send baked goods to the soup kitchens in the city. They never turn them down. I also supply cookies for after church coffee from time to time. The teachers love it when parents send baking for the staff room at school.

What about you doctor's or pediatrician's office? If you have a good relationship with then and enjoy them, they might enjoy baked good from you.

Also, I take baked goods to my pharmacist. I use a small mom and pop pharmacy and I have a complex medical history. They really go to bat for me when it comes to managing my meds so around the holiday's I often take them bake goods. They love it. Maybe you could foo that.

Have you or a family member been to an Urgent Care or to the ER this year? What about taking some baked goods there as a thank you? The staff there often don't get appreciated and they never know what happens to their patients after the fact.

Those are my thoughts. I'll be interested to see what others come up with.

At this time of year our church is always looking for baked goods. They give plates of cookies to the home bound. Sell plates at the Christmas Tea. Have cookies at the two Sunday School programs and the Christmas concert. And have cookies between services every Sunday.

I fully support all of the great suggestions below! A lot of retail/service businesses are crazy busy this time of year and would also love a treat. Maybe the people at the tree lot, the flower shop, even Target! I think sharing some holiday cheer is an awesome idea. Let us know how it turns out!
Oh, and if you take cookies to the fire fighters, don't neglect the police station. Cops get a little sad when fire fighters get all the community love :)

What a nice gesture!
I used to volunteer at a teen crisis kind of place - kids lived there while they were having their home life stuff sorted out. I used to go and make a meal there with a friend once a week. When I was there, people dropped off all kinds of stuff - from whole pigs, to donuts from the local donut shop, to day old bread. But often just kind people would drop off a cake or muffins. Women's shelters I would think would be the same. As well as homeless shelters.
All those places rely on the kindness of volunteers so I'm sure if you contacted some place like that they could best advise you. The place I volunteered at with the kids - I know the kids would have loved stuff like that. Their meals were pretty basic and bland a lot of the time, and special treats would have made Christmas very special.
Good idea :)

One of the ladies at our church always takes pies and things to the local fire station on holidays. It's a bunch of men (typically) who are stuck there, and men love to eat. Maybe make a ton and divide it up and deliver batches to several different stations? Our church friend does lots of pies and batches of cookies. She'll take a a couple of pies and a tin (or whatever) of cookies to each station.

Every day in the Teachers Lounge. But give your child's teachers (classroom, PE, librarian, administrators, music...) a plate to themselves to take home.

I truly think you just need to call around and find out who will take donations of home baked goods. Not many places do nowadays. Nursing homes will have people with allergies and medication interaction issues so they might have a long odd list too.

They have even stopped allowing them in the schools, which I am completely on board with. We don't know the condition of that person's kitchen. They might have roaches in their flour, rats in their cabinets, maggots in their sinks. They could have massive cleanliness issues.

So I'm very glad the schools stopped allowing that. Now anything brought to school that is to be shared has to be in the original package, unopened, from the store.