Australian-Filipina cake maker LOVELY BANDAL is hoping to raise as much as $10,000 for a young family in desperate need of financial help. This is her story.

Gold Ribbon Cake will hold a novelty cake auction to raise fund helping a young mother and her two little boys in Montalban, Philippines to save or secure their home. 

Benjy Arguelles, the husband and father, became a stay-at-home dad because of a heart  illness and other complications that made him incapable to work outside home since 2012. While his wife, Gemma Arguelles, is working as a reliever staff in a pawnshop and earning not sufficiently covering their daily expenses, including home mortgage. This young family had financial support from Benjy’s parents - until his mother died last July 2013 and followed by his father’s death a couple of months after, last October 2013. 

Last February, I went to the Philippines and shared my baking skills with my siblings that would help them earn an income to support some of their expenses. Benjy was my brother-in-law who was the one who benefited from my free training. They learned so quickly that it eventually helped them to earn a little. Benjy found hope that he could help his wife financially by baking cakes followed by opening a small sari-sari (retail) store in their home. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before Benjy died suddenly from a heart attack last Thursday, 17th of April 2013, and left his wife and two young boys, aged 6 and 8. 

Afterwards, the young wife and two little boys are facing another difficult challenge - losing their home due to payment delinquency. I have seen a chance that I could still able to help this family by putting my cake entry, after placing it into a competition in the Mounties – Icing on the Cake Challenge to raise funds that could help his wife and young kids recover from their loss and save their home. They will be needing a money amounting from P200,000 ($5,000)  to $450,000 ($11K +) to save their home.

I am intending to make a cake from chocolate fudge brownies (GRC signature cake) which was the last cake that Benjy baked. The highest bidder will have the option of either keeping the cake display as a token and have a cake to eat or have the winning cake design in real cake. 

The competition is on the 21st of May at 3pm until 31st of May at 12noon. I will be posting the photo of my cake for auction on my website and Facebook. Online bidding is for Australian residents only within Metro-Sydney. However, if you are in other places and wish to help, you can donate any amount via Paypal by clicking the "donate" button from my webpage.

Other details will be posted on my website and Facebook business page.


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