13-Year-Old Maryland Baker Uses His Business to Give Treats to the Homeless

This 13-year-old can teach many businessmen a thing or two about charity. Alongside his passion to bake, he found a way to give back using proceeds from his bakery.

He’s barely into his teens and was forced to drop out of school due to epileptic seizures, but Michael Platt has done more than most kids his age has done for the community. He owns a bake shop that not only makes people happy with his delicious creations, but he uses it as a means to feed the hungry.

BAKING WITH A HIGHER PURPOSE

Michael knew that when he decided to indulge in his passion for baking, it wasn’t going to be just about him. He knew his greater purpose was to help others.

At sixth grade, Michael left his public school after being diagnosed with epilepsy. He was also forced to give up activities he loved like diving, gymnastics, and climbing trees due to his seizures. It was then he turned to baking.

He began baking cakes, cupcakes, and cookies and eventually opened his own bakery he calls Michaels Desserts. However, his bakery did more than just sell his goods. It gives back to the community as much as it earns. In fact, he donates a treat to the hungry for every cake, cupcake or cookie he sells. With his average sales of 75 cupcakes a month at $15 for four, he matches this by producing more than 100 treats to give away.

“I knew that I wanted to make a business, but I knew I didn’t just want to make money — I also wanted to help people at the same time,”

Michael frequents domestic violence shelters, transitional housing sites, and the McPherson Square in Washington, DC to make his sweet donations. He also partnered with No Kid Hungry, a non-profit organization that devotes its efforts to end child hunger.

“There was a man sitting in the park. He was wearing, like, a suit and tie. We gave him a cupcake and he said that he hadn’t eaten in three days. So we learned that hunger doesn’t really look like anything.”

HUNGER HAS NO FACE

In the course of his work, Michael realized hunger has no face. Speaking to WJLA, he recalled an incident when he learned this.

“There was a man sitting in the park. He was wearing, like, a suit and tie. We gave him a cupcake and he said that he hadn’t eaten in three days. So we learned that hunger doesn’t really look like anything.”

Michael is determined to keep helping people because it was always what drove him to bake.

“I knew that I wanted to make a business, but I knew I didn’t just want to make money — I also wanted to help people at the same time,” he told WJLA.

A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Moreover, he finds a way to promote social awareness by creating special cupcakes and naming them after influential people. These monthly creations he calls “freedom fighter cupcakes” have already featured Martin Luther King and Maya Angelou. He intends to create one too for Harriet Tubman and Nelson Mandela in the coming months.

10-YEAR-OLD WITH DISABILITY RUNS A COFFEE SHOP THAT HELPS OTHERS LIKE HIM

It is amazing what this 13-year-old from Bowie, Maryland has accomplished in his young life. He reminds us of 10-year-old Camden Myers whose coffee shop he founded, Cam's Coffee Creations gives jobs to kids like him who have special needs. Cam was born with a brain injury which affected his cognitive skills. This didn't stop him though from pursuing his passion for making coffee. With the help of his mother, he managed to build a business which employs people with cognitive and physical disabilities.

Kids like Michael and Cam should serve as an inspiration to many who may think there’s not enough they can do. They both proved that something they love to do can be shared with others and that no disability should hinder one's growth.