For 12-year-old Spencer Levy, baking isn’t simply a hobby — it’s a way to give back to those truly in need.
Every year since he was only 6 years old, the young Cherry Hill resident has spent his weekends in the early spring months baking his unique brand of giant cookies to sell and raise money for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
On a good weekend, Spencer can make a couple hundred cookies, with adult supervision from his mom Julie of course, and since the start of his cookie-baking journey, Spencer has been able to raise about $6,500.
Whether it be chocolate chip, sugar, sprinkle or snicker doodle, Spencer said he first got the idea to bake when he saw a bakery for sale and decided that’s what he wanted to do with his life.
Then, like a 6-year-old would, things quickly morphed into Spencer telling his mom that he wanted to have a bake sale.
Spencer said at first the project was basically trying make it so kids could have milk and cookies with their moms on Mother’s Day, and things just went from there.
“It was one of the few hospitals that I really knew of and I really wanted to help kids in need now and always,” Spencer said. “I feel like helping kids is a really good thing, so that’s why I picked CHOP.”
Spencer’s mother Julie said when a 6 year old says he wants to have a bake sale to raise money for an institution such as CHOP, there’s no way to say no.
“He has become the cookie kid, and it’s gone from his elementary school and teachers to the teachers in middle school, to the people in the neighborhood to the fire commissioner, and it is amazing to me as a parent how willing people are to support a child that wants to do something good,” Julie said.
Spencer and his mother also thank ShopRite of Marlton for annually donating a $25 gift certificate for Spencer to purchase supplies, which Spencer said he always needs as it’s rare that people don’t order again the following year, and he’s always seeing new people on the order forms.
In his first year of 2008, Spencer raised about $350, and now in 2014 alone, he was able to raise $1,923, nearly a third of the total funds he’s raised since he first started.
“It’s amazing that every year I’m getting more support from people in my community, and it’s just shocking that it’s gone from hundreds of dollar to almost $2,000,” Spencer said.
Recently, the Cherry Hill Township Council honored Spencer for his efforts with a proclamation saying Spencer’s “generosity is truly inspiring and serves as a tremendous example for Cherry Hill residents of all ages” and marking June 23 as “Spencer Levy Day.”
“I was really shocked about that, and I was proud of myself knowing I was making a difference throughout my town,” Spencer said.
CHOP also recently proposed to Spencer that if he commits to raising money for the next five years and donates it toward the new Buerger Center for Advanced Pediatric Care that CHOP is building, then Spencer would be honored with a room in the name of his Cookies For Kids bake sales when the building opens in 2015.
Spencer’s mother said honors such as those from the township council and CHOP always keep her son excited to bake on, and Spencer said he believes the best way he, and other people, can help the community is to find a passion and put it toward a good cause.
“I think the best thing, the best way to help, is doing something you love to do,” Spencer said. “For someone it might be baking, for someone it might be track and field. Any way that you want to do it is really good. I think if you’re really passionate about something you should push it toward a good cause.”
