Brightly Baked is a non-profit organization founded by Junior Ingrid Ruffolo. She uses this platform to bake treats for people in need throughout the community. 

Ruffolo created Brightly Baked to turn her passion for baking into something that can benefit the people around her.

Ruffolo said, “You never know what is going on in someone’s life, and how a little cookie or brownie can effect them in a positive way.”

She began the nonprofit at the age of 15, funded by donations from the community, she bakes cookies, cupcakes and pies. Her  goal is to serve children, the elderly, veterans and anyone else that is experiencing hardship.

The mission of Brightly Baked is to, “brighten the day of those who need it most” in hopes of, “creating a ripple effect of goodwill that extends far beyond [the] bakery.” 

Before officially starting the nonprofit, Ruffolo found baking to be very therapeutic. She enjoys seeing the reactions of the people that try her treats. Her dad will even bring in the baked goods to work and report how happy all of his coworkers were to have it in the breakroom. The sweets that Ruffolo bakes have the ability to bring positive feelings to places she doesn’t even see.

In addition to running Brightly Baked, Ruffolo has been regularly bringing homemade baked goods to school, adding a sweet touch to the school environment. 

“My favorite thing to bake is a basic chocolate chip cookie, you can never go wrong,” said Ruffolo.  

Junior Caroline Bertozzi said Ruffolo has sweet treats most days of the week, and will incorporate seasonal treats into her baking rotation. For fall, she has prepared pumpkin flavored treats.

When asked about her favorite treats by Ruffolo, Bertozzi said, “She made these pumpkin snickerdoodle [cookies], they were SO good.”

Students feels beyond happy whenever they can have some of Ruffolo’s treats. When roaming the halls, students often will track her down whenever she has baked goods as it is their favorite part of the day.