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 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
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
The Sophie Fund extends its gratitude and heartfelt thanks to Visions Federal Credit Union, Cayuga Health, Well Said Media, Maguire Family of Dealerships, and Wegmans for supporting the 10th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest. Thank you for once again championing the mental health mission in our community!
We’re celebrating 10 years of the Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest! Here’s a slideshow from the latest edition held in the Ithaca Commons on October 18, 2025.
Registration Team for 10th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest
Madelyne entering her “Pumpkin Chai Cupcakes”
Kirstan Brodie’s “Apple of My Pie Cupcakes”
Jonica LeRoux entering her “Bear Paw’s Smoky Sugar Shack Cupcakes”
Katy Holloway’s “The Pineapple Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree Cupcakes”
Lucia entering her “Halloween Cupcakes”
Anayeli Newton’s “S’mores Cupcakes”
Bethanie Keem-Calhoun’s “Mimosa Cupcakes”
Rebecca DeGroat entering her “Happy 250th Birthday Marine Corps Cupcakes”
Sadie Hays’s “Mount Merapi Cupcakes”
Kyra O’Toole entering her “Fall Forest Cupcakes”
Hudson, Paxton, and Gamay’s “Harry Potter Cupcakes”
Lydia Mentzer’s “Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes”
Megan Martinez’s “Pumpkin’ed Up Salted Caramel Cheesecake Cupcakes”
Alecia Sundsmo’s “Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes”
Isaac Ortiz’s “Dubai Chocolate Cupcakes”
Tabitha Gray’s “Orange Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes”
Village at Ithaca’s Razzmatazz Rainbow Cupcakes”
Dawn Kracht’s “A Taste of Fall Cupcakes”
Cupcakes awaiting the judges
Juju B’s Sweets’s “Joy Cupcakes”
Travis Bohmer’s “Apple Pie, Oh My! Cupcakes”
Sophie Fund giveaways for the contestants
Sophie Fund volunteers
Event planner Cara Nichols and friends
Awards Ceremony Emcee Gabriella da Silva Carr and sidekick-in-lederhosen Ben Sandberg
Wegmans pastry chefs Savannah and Natalie conduct a cupcake decorating workshop
Mastering the art of piping floral decorations
Wegmans decorating workshop cupcakes ready to eat
Let the judging begin (with a Corgi named Gnocchi standing guard)
So many cupakes, so little time
Drum roll, please, for the final round of judging!
Molly receiving the Autumn Magic Award
Kate Bagnell receiving the 3rd Place Award for her “Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes”
Sadie Hays receiving the Honorable Mention Award for her “Mount Merapi Cupcakes”
Katy receiving the Honorable Mention Award for her “The Pineapple Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree Cupcakes”
Marina Mahashin and Amin Lopez Luna receiving the Honorable Mention Award for their “Coco-Mango Sticky Rice Cupcakes”
The Sophie Fund Team
Be Kind Ithaca finding new ways to spread the message
And that’s a wrap: “Elvis has left the Pavilion“
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