Bassie’s birthday milestone – 10 years of inspiring others!
By Meghan Williams
Volunteer Coordinator and Administrative Assistant
Bassie Baron turned 15 this August, making this the 10th year she has led a food drive for Rachel’s Table instead of receiving gifts. Each year Bassie collects food donations as well as monetary donations that she uses to purchase food for Rachel’s Table agencies. Bassie started these annual food drives when she was 5 years old turning 6!
Bassie’s commitment to Rachel’s Table goes beyond her annual food drive. Bassie is an officer on our Teen Board. In fact, Bassie was the youngest individual to join the Teen Board. Bassie petitioned to join the Teen Board early and was accepted when she was just 10 years old! Since joining the Teen Board, Bassie’s understanding of food insecurity and how it intersects with other issues of health and housing has grown. As a result, Bassie has expanded her annual birthday drive to include kids’ snacks, pet food, diapers, and wipes. This year Bassie intends to include at least one box of feminine and personal care items. As an officer Bassie would like to see the Teen Board grow and provide education to other youth of the “why” behind the work and teach about how youth can get involved to help community members struggling with food insecurity.
In addition to her annual birthday food drive, Bassie started a Thanksgiving food drive at her old middle school. To ensure the longevity of the program Bassie trained another younger student to continue the annual tradition. For Bassie’s Bat Mitzvah, she coordinated the packing of school supply kits and created centerpieces of food for donation.
Bassie’s mom Chany says that Bassie “just got it” early. At 5 years old she could see that she didn’t need or want presents from friends. Chany had a family friend who collected books and food instead of receiving presents for their children and she proposed this idea to Bassie. Bassie agreed that she would prefer to give food to those in need instead of receiving gifts. Inspired by the problem of world hunger, in general, Bassie says “I just wanted to do whatever I could to help…I’m only one person, there’s only so much I can do.” Although Bassie never met her grandfather, who was director of charity at their synagogue, she does see her food drive and other projects as a continuation of family tradition. Bassie looks forward to getting more people involved in her annual food drive and envisions continuing to organize it well into the future.
Each year Bassie packs several boxes of food based on the year of her birthday (plus one for good luck!). During COVID, Bassie worked some extra jobs to fund the food drive because there was no big birthday party when friends and family would bring donations. This year Bassie will contribute at least one of her paychecks from working as a summer camp counselor to the purchase of kosher non-perishable food items. In 2025 she has raised around $400 and collected 16 boxes of non-perishables weighing a total of 368.5 lbs. This year’s food donations were delivered to the Dream Center. Personal care items, diapers, and wipes were delivered to Christina’s House.
If Bassie, at age 5, can understand that the world needs each of us to do our part, we can each find a way to make a difference. Thank you for the inspiration, Bassie!