When Vinny Pinciotti (above) was 5 years old, he asked his parents if he could hold a holiday bake sale. It wasn’t to earn spending money for himself—he wanted to donate the proceeds to MOFC.
Six years later, Vinny’s event has grown into an annual December tradition for his entire Westerville neighborhood. Kids of all ages from his street make posters, bake food, and wave down cars. They’ve expanded to sell hot chocolate and other desserts.
“It makes me happy to raise money with my friends and help people get food,” said Vinny, now age 11. “I want people to know that we care.”
Vinny’s mother Mandy said that the bake sale has raised thousands of dollars over the years. The Pinciottis donate the funds on Double Your Donation Day (DYDD), MOFC’s biggest fundraising day of the year. This most recent bake sale on December 7 was their biggest yet, raking in $1,000. By giving on DYDD, the impact of Vinny’s bake sale this year was $2,000. That’s enough for 5,000 meals’ worth of food.
Vinny originally started the sale after seeing an MOFC ad on TV. After the first year, MOFC staff invited him to take a tour of the Mid Ohio Foodbank.
Mandy said she and her husband Ben stopped asking Vinny if he wanted to do the bake sale after those first few years. The answer was always yes.
“It’s not even a question anymore, this is just what we do!” Vinny said. “I want to keep helping more and more people.”
