photo from Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/en/baguette-bread-baked-goods-food-1743939/)

Pat Hogue retired from RRC’s Early Childhood Education Program in 2011. Six years later, she has raised over $20,000 from her kitchen for a relatively obscure charity known as Seva Canada. And the irony is, she accomplished it through something she only learned post-retirement: artisan baking!

The brown paper bag reads,
“Thank you for supporting Seva. Pat”

What Pat did know upon retirement is that, one, she wanted to learn how to make artisan bread, and two, she needed to draw up a will. Reaching her first goal didn’t take long. Tackling the second (and a desire to leave a portion of her estate to a suitable charity) is what eventually led her to Seva Canada, a Vancouver-based charitable organization whose mission is to restore sight and prevent blindness in developing countries. You may have read Pat’s story in the July 18th Free Press article by Gordon Sinclair Jr., Retiree raising dough by making dough (posted at: goo.gl/7XGF9m). I encourage you to also read her own 2012 account at goo.gl/T3EtdG.

The long and short of it is that, since St. Patrick’s Day in 2012, Pat has been hosting small groups of friends in her cozy little West End kitchen for classes in artisan bread making. The offshoot is a delicious no-knead dough, ideal for bread, focaccia, pizza and sweet or savoury loaves, that can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks. In return, Pat directs participants to make a donation (in lieu of workshop fees) to Seva. 63 workshops and 233 students later, her initial $300 fundraising goal has now swollen to $21,000. To echo Gordon Sinclair, I am confident that figure will continue to rise, like her bread.

You are an inspiration to us all, Pat!

And those of you who are suitably inspired knead to visit her Dough for $$$Dough$$$ donor page at goo.gl/HmfaCq, as I did. One can also contact Pat via Facebook for more workshop information.

Who knows, some of us might even be moved to take on a cause near and dear to our own heart. Says Pat, “It’s taking that first step that’s the hardest.”