Month: October 2025

10 Years of Ithaca Cupcakes!

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The Sophie Fund celebrated a decade of Ithaca cupcakes on October 18 with a photo exhibition depicting highlights of the Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest through the years.

DOWNLOAD: “10 Years of Ithaca Cupcakes!”

The exhibition was held at the History Center in Tompkins County in conjunction with the 10th annual contest which took place at the Bernie Milton Pavilion in the Ithaca Commons.

The exhibition featured some notable examples of beautifully decorated cupcakes, as well as posters displaying the Grand Prize and Youth Award winners from 2016–2024. A separate “Lifetime Achievement Award” poster showed the outstanding entries of perennial contestant Aušra Milano.

DOWNLOAD: Photo Exhibition Poster

DOWNLOAD: Grand Prize Winners 2016-2024

DOWNLOAD: Youth Award Winners 2016-2024

DOWNLOAD: Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

The Sophie Fund launched the contest in October 2016. One goal was to spread some joy in the town. Who doesn’t like to bake cupcakes, or eat them, or both? Another goal was to help start conversations about mental health.

The Sophie Fund was established by family and friends of Sophie Hack MacLeod, a Cornell University student who died by suicide in Ithaca at age 23. Sophie was on a health leave of absence from college and working in the town’s restaurant scene. She loved baking cupcakes, and considered becoming a pastry chef one day and perhaps running her own bakery. Sadly, that day will not come. But Sophie’s zest for life lives in on in the cupcake baking contest she inspired. The emblem of the contest is the magenta, pink, yellow, and peacock blue image of a cupcake painted by Sophie.

Including the latest edition, 288 amateur bakers have entered the contest with a total of 1,878 cupcakes between 2016-2025. They delighted the judges with a wide range of themes: Greek mythology, bumblebees, Little Shop of Horrors, sharks, circus clowns, summer campfires, fall foliage, pumpkin patches, Day of the Dead traditions, Tim Burton films, Update apple picking, Ithaca waterfalls, and more. The contestants took home more than $8,000 in prizes.

The event is about more than cupcakes. It celebrates community. It brings together student volunteers from the college campuses, professionals from local bakeries serving as judges, musicians who support the cause, and generous sponsors from Ithaca businesses.

The mental health message is never far from view. A dozen or so local nonprofits create a wellness fair on the sidelines of the contest. The Sophie Fund partners with student groups to operate a “Cupcake Button” campaign each year to collect donations supporting Ithaca mental health providers.

DOWNLOAD: “10 Years of Ithaca Cupcakes”

Thank You, Mental Health Champions!

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The 10th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest on October 18 included a Wellness Fair featuring 10 local nonprofits. The Sophie Fund extends its sincere thanks to these mental health champions for increasing awareness, fighting stigma, and supporting those in need.

Participating organizations included: Be Kind Ithaca; Free Hugs Ithaca; American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Greater Central New York; Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service; Mental Health Association in Tompkins County; National Alliance on Mental Illness Finger Lakes; Advocacy Center of Tompkins County; Tompkins County Bullying Prevention Task Force; Cayuga Addiction Recovery Services; and Ithaca Welcomes Refugees. Claire de Boer of Cayuga Swim for Mental Health also participated.

Claire de Boer of Cayuga Swim for Mental Health

In remarks at the contest cwards Ceremony, De Boer spoke about her epic 38-mile relay swim the length of Cayuga Lake in August with fellow marathoner Bridgette Hobart. She and Hobart made their swim a fundraiser for The Sophie Fund and dedicated it to nephews they lost to suicide, Rowan and Corey, respectively.

“Rowan did not reach out for help,” De Boer recounted. “Rowan was a very intelligent, helpful, warm, loving human being. Twenty-one years old. If I had to speak to Rowan, or anyone else, any young people, I would say, ‘We know things get really hard, and they feel insurmountable. And many of us have been there. If you can just wait, and just talk about it. So many people care about you, love you, and want to help you.’”

The Sophie Fund provided De Boer and Hobart with plaques commemorating their marathon swim on August 8-9.

De Boer’s message was echoed by Tiffany Bloss, executive director of the Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County, an agency that provides mental health training and education and serves as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline call center for central New York.

“We field hundreds of calls every single day from people who reach out for support,” Bloss said.

“This is how this happens,” Bloss added, motioning to the event attendees. “People coming out and paying attention to mental health, talking about our feelings and our experiences were having, learning about the resources in our community. This is what is going to keep people alive, having these really tough conversations.”

National Alliance on Mental Illness Finger Lakes

Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County

Another speaker was Leila Wilmers, development director for Ithaca Welcomes Refugees, a nonprofit that is the recipient of The Sophie Fund’s 2025 “Cupcake Button” fundraising campaign supporting community mental health.

“Our mission is to work alongside refugees and immigrants as they resettle and rebuild their lives in Tompkins County,” Wilmers said.

“We try to provide a comprehensive support service. We’re there from the beginning when people first arrive. We help find housing. We help through donation drives to get people furnished apartments. Then we provide longer-term support. We operate with a huge network of volunteers and we’re always welcoming new people to get involved in helping provide support for families that are coming.”

Ithaca Welcomes Refugees

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Greater Central New York

Advocacy Center of Tompkins County

Cayuga Addiction Recovery Services

Be Kind Ithaca and Free Hugs Ithaca

Ballads for Mental Health

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The Sophie Fund expresses its gratitude to the musicians who performed at the 10th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest on October 18: Rachel Beverly and Joe Gibson. Thank you for being mental health champions for our community!

Rachel Beverly on stage at the Bernie Milton Pavilion

Joe Gibson at the 10th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest

Rachel Beverly

Joe Gibson

The Sweetest Contest Judges, Thank You!

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The Sophie Fund extends our sincere appreciation to the finalist judges of the 10th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest on October 18. Besides volunteering to serve, they baked up some indulgencies of their own—500 treats in all—to pass out to contestants, volunteers, audience members, and passersby in the Ithaca Commons. Thank you Yuko Jingu of Akemi Food; Ashley Case of Case Sera Sera; Racquel Riccardi of Sinfully Delicious Baking Co.; Melissa Kenny of Sweet Melissa’s Ice Cream Shop; Via Carpenter of Via’s Cookies, and Ania Grodzinski of Ania’s Confections.

Melissa Kenny, Via Carpenter, Ania Grodzinski, Ashley Case, and Yuko Jingu

Which of the masterpieces will receive the Grand Prize?

Cookies from Case Sera Sera

Sweets from Via’s Cookies

Elderflower shortbreads from Sinfully Delicious Baking Co.

Cookies from Sweet Melissa’s

Akemi Food’s chicken rice balls

Thanks for a Sweet Contest, Cornell Students!

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Cornell University students from six campus organizations volunteered at the 10th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest, an event to raise awareness about mental health, and collected donations in The Sophie Fund’s related Cupcake Button fundraising campaign.

Cornell volunteers, reporting for duty!

More than 25 volunteers came from Alpha Phi Omega–Gamma Chapter, Cornell Circle K, Pre-Professional Association Toward Careers in Health (PATCH), Realizing Integration, Support, and Education for Underserved Populations at Cornell (RISEUP), Hotel Graduate Student Organization, and Voices of Equity.

Students arrived for the October 18 event at the Bernie Milton Pavilion in the Commons as the autumn dawn was breaking. They hauled tables and chairs to set up the contest, registered contestants, guarded the entries, participated in the judging, created awards certificates, connected with community mental health partners, and broke down the event space afterwards.

Contestant registration team

Students spent the previous two weeks collecting donations for Ithaca Welcomes Refugees, which provides comprehensive support services for refugees and other immigrants arriving in Tompkins County. The Sophie Fund hosts the cupcake contest every October, and organizes the “Cupcake Button” fundraising campaign to support Ithaca nonprofits aiding mental health in the community.

RISEUP’s Harmony Guan and friends supporting Ithaca Welcomes Refugees

Speaking at the Awards Ceremony, Harmony Guan, RISEUP’s mental health committee lead, said her group partnered with The Sophie Fund because of the intersection between refugees and mental health.

“We’re an organization at Cornell that supports refugees and underserved populations,” she said. “Refugees face many struggles, stressors of coming from another country to a new country, culture shock.”

The sweet side of volunteering: judging the cupcake contest

Volunteering with The Sophie Fund