North Auckland Good Bitches Baking provides cakes through Age Concern for significant birthdays.

Diane’s 80th birthday was going to be a “quiet affair”.  She was sitting with her cousin when somebody knocked at the door.

“A lovely lady handed me a package and said happy 80th birthday. It was a beautiful cake and a delightful surprise. The icing was beautiful and I have never tasted a flavour like the cake—it was so yummy.

“It was a chance to give a slice to my neighbours to say thank you for their little gifts. And I gave a slice to the helper who comes to do my vacuuming. She thought it was lovely and had another slice the next time she came, so it all got eaten. Everyone kept commenting on how nice the cake tasted.”

Diane is a widow who lives on her own now, after a full life of “living and travelling” with her husband, both in Aotearoa and overseas.  She’s not getting out as much since the onset of the pandemic and some health issues in the last few years.

Diane was especially delighted to receive the cake as she wasn’t expecting anything at all. She didn’t know that Age Concern knew her details and she had never heard of GBB. 

It’s a nice story of quiet kindness “behind the scenes”. She wonders how Age Concern got to know about her. She thinks that maybe that a St John paramedic contacted Age Concern when they were called to her house a year or two ago. Age Concern made contact and supplied some regular home visiting.  Age Concern then linked with GBB to provide a surprise birthday cake, meaning that,  suddenly and completely out of the blue, a beautiful cake arrived on her doorstep right on the dot of her 80th birthday!