the almanac J U LY 5, 2026
SOUTH HILLS COMMUNITY NEWS
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Cake4Kids makes a special day for kids brighter
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AMERICA AT 250: THE AGE OF INNOVATION
By Jill Thurston
jthurston@observer-reporter.com
As a high school sophomore, Ishaan Sharma of Upper St. Clair became involved in a service project baking cupcakes for a local needs-based organization, SHIM. After the project was completed, he didn’t want to stop. Now entering his sophomore year at Georgia Tech, Ishaan, 19, and his mother, Priyanka Sharma, both serve as chapter co-ambassadors for Cake4Kids Greater Pittsburgh Chapter, a chapter of the national organization with the mission of giving a birthday cake to children who may not otherwise receive one. A national nonprofit, Cake4Kids was founded in 2010 in Sunnyvale, California, by Libby Gruender, who wanted to give free birthday cakes to at-risk youth and foster children in her area. The nonprofit has spread to 20 states with 28 chapters. Greater Pittsburgh’s Cake4Kids is Pennsylvania’s only chapter. “The target audience we serve is underprivileged youth. Oftentimes that can be foster, refugee, low-income and many times these children may never have had a birthday cake or that special moment that they can savor, and our mission is to make sure that no child goes without,” said Ishaan. The two Sharmas learned about the nonprofit from a family friend and after finding there was no chapter in the area, applied to start one. In August 2023, the application was accepted, but before they could fully operate, they had to find a couple of agencies to get on board and at least 10 volunteers. The original agency receiving Ishaan’s cupcakes, SHIM in Bethel Park, is still on the list to receive and distribute cakes, as well as 10 other organizations,
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Blast off of spacecraft with astronauts David Scott and Neil Armstrong aboard, Cape Kennedy, Fla. on March 16, 1966 for Project Gemini VIII. Armstrong and Scott almost lost their lives during a rendezvous with an unmanned Agena rocket during the flight of Gemini VIII on March 1966, when both crafts began tumbling uncontrollably. COURTESY OF CAKE4KIDS GREATER PITTSBURGH CHAPTER
Ishaan Sharma and his mother, Priyanka Sharma, co-ambassadors for the Cake4Kids Greater Pittsburgh Chapter, are shown at Upper St. Clair’s Community Day in 2024.
including the Bair Foundation, Beverly’s Birthdays, Melting Pot Ministries and the Allegheny Family Network. Launched in March 2024, he estimates the effort has reached nearly 6,000 kids as of June in the Greater Pittsburgh area. Today there are more than 200 volunteer bakers who purchase the ingredients, bake and deliver cakes to the agency working with the children. “Ultimately, they get the cake to the agency and then the agency gets the cake to the family, so there is a layer of privacy for the family that is involved,” Ishaan explained. “We work with these agencies and they are the ones that have all of the contact information for the families they serve.” Agencies post the child’s cake selection on a private portal and volunteers choose what works for their schedule. Volunteers go through an
COURTESY OF CAKE4KIDS GREATER PITTSBURGH CHAPTER
A cake made for Cake4Kids Greater Pittsburgh Chapter was delivered to one of 11 agencies for distribution.
orientation process through the national Cake4Kids organization that includes a test and background check before baking in their homes. The Sharma’s Greater Pittsburgh Chapter has experienced rapid growth. Ishaan and Priyanka met Mary Kirk, with the Upper St. Clair-Bethel Park Rotary Breakfast Club, at a St. Clair Community Day a few years ago, where the Rotary holds a bake-off contest. “I just was really intrigued by them and what they did, and it lined up very nicely as a partner with our bake-offs.” Kirk invited Ishaan and his mom to join the Rotary’s booth at the USC Community to talk about Cake4Kids and grow their volunteer base. Impressed with their initiative, Kirk also invited the two to present at a Rotary meeting, where they could connect with other agencies and charities
COURTESY OF CAKE4KIDS GREATER PITTSBURGH CHAPTER
A Minnie Mouse-themed cake was baked for a child who might not otherwise receive a birthday cake.
who could use their service. The Sharmas were awarded a Rotary grant two years in a row that went toward helping volunteer bakers hone their skills. Kirk connected Priyanka with Icing on the Cake in Finleyville, and they teamed up to hold classes in icing and decorating skills. “It’s just really a full circle, beautiful example of how when you pull together as a community, you can pull in local businesses, local charities, and then volunteer organizations. And it’s really, I think, a good demonstration of the power that we have together,” Kirk said. “We are really proud of how far Cake4Kids have come, nationally as well as in Pittsburgh. As of a few months ago, we are the fastest-growing chapter in the country as a percentage,” Ishaan said. “In our first entire SEE CAKE PAGE B4
COURTESY OF CAKE4KIDS GREATER PITTSBURGH CHAPTER
A specially designed birthday cake for a music lover, courtesy of Cake4Kids.
Editor’s note: This week marks the final chapter in our three-month series of exploring America at 250 years old through the lens of some of the most important national events that took place in our communities.
By Ross Gallabrese The Herald Star
The way we build things, the way we travel, the way we protect ourselves, the way we are able to save and extend lives and the way we explore could not have happened without the efforts of some of the great Americans innovators of the 20th century. From Henry Ford, who helped to make Detroit and the United States the center of the automobile business, to groundbreaking work in medicine that has transformed our lives to the courage of the men and women who were willing to travel into space, American ideas have truly changed the world. When Ford, for example, created the first moving assembly line in 1913 in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Mich., he not only changed the way automobiles were manufactured – he set the stage for the mass production that would help supply America’s troops through two world wars and fuel the country’s booming economy. “The assembly line process revolutionized the manufacture of cars themselves, allowing them to be made in much greater quantities in a shorter period of time,” said Matt Anderson, curator of transportation at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dear-
born. “But the bigger impact is because of the process, the price of an automobile fell so dramatically that really anyone, even within the working class, was able to afford a car, and it transformed the automobile from what had been a plaything for the wealthy to a tool for everyday life, which, for better or worse, it remains today.” In 1908, for example, the price of a Model T was $850, which is the equivalent of about $31,000 today. By 1914, the price had dropped to $490 and in 1924 it was around $300. While it once took workers 12 hours to produce a completed car, Ford would be able to eventually turn out an automobile every 24 seconds. Even though the assembly line made production of Ford’s cars more efficient, it did come with its own set of issues. “One of the first problems with it is they realized the workers tended to resent the system or just not care for it because, prior to that, they had been very skilled craftspeople who were doing highly complex work,” Anderson said. “The whole point of the moving assembly line was to take all of the skill out of the work, so a person is just tightening a nut or inserting a screw. “So, workers began calling in sick and absenteeism was a SEE 250 PAGE A2
Peters Township hosts meeting on its comprehensive plan By Brad Hundt
bhundt@observer-reporter.com
Peters Township hosted an open house on its still-in-theworks comprehensive plan last week, one of several steps that will be taken before the plan is finally approved by township council. A draft of the plan, which weighs in at 101 pages, covers a wide range of areas, including economic development, infrastructure improvements, housing and transportation. Wednesday’s open house was in the large group instruction room at Peters Township
High School. “What the plan does is set forth a community’s vision,” according to Laura Ludwig, a community planner with Herbert, Rowland & Grubic Inc., a civil engineering firm that is a consultant on the comprehensive plan. “It’s a roundup and policy guide for decision making.” Under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, communities are required to update their comprehensive plans every decade. The last time Peters Township approved a comprehensive plan was in December 2013. The executive summary of
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the draft comprehensive plan states that the township is approaching “full build out,” and the plan “shifts the focus from expansion to thoughtful management of land, infrastructure services and community character.” The process of putting together the comprehensive plan was started in April 2025, starting with an online survey, focus groups, community events and steering committee meetings. The draft of the comprehensive plan states that preservation of rural character, improved traffic and pedestrian safety and “thoughtful housing and development
choices as available land becomes more limited.” Some residents at the meeting expressed concerns about taxes, high-density housing developments being built in the township and farmland being preserved. Sommer Schueller, a planner with Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, said the plan is “heavy on potential. Nothing here is set in stone.” The township’s previous comprehensive plan remains in effect until the new one is approved. Ludwig said it would likely be adopted by township council in September, after first going to Peters’ planning commission.
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BRAD HUNDT
Laura Ludwig, a community planner with Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, Inc., discusses Peters Township’s comprehensive plan at Peters Township High School June 24.
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