Stars, Stripes, and Frosted Thanks: RWU Students Support Local War Veterans at Annual Cake Off Event

BRISTOL, R.I. – Candy and frosting flew through the air on Saturday as teams of students covered sheet cakes with camouflage-dyed frosting, patriotic symbols, and piped messages of ‘thank you for your service’ during the Inter-Class Council’s annual Cake Off. With a ‘Stars, Stripes, and Frosted Pipes” theme and just 30 minutes on the clock, students hustled to decorate a prize-winning cake that celebrated and honored our veteran neighbors of the Rhode Island Veterans Home in Bristol.

Each year the Cake Off challenge brings together the campus community for a fun event that raises funds for a good cause. Past events have focused on major nonprofits, such as Make-A-Wish or Autism Speaks. For this year’s campus tradition, ICC’s Spirit and Traditions Chair Andrea Arnold said she wanted to support an organization much closer to home. 

“I chose the Rhode Island Veterans Home because I had a personal stake in it,” Arnold said. “My dad was a war veteran and he recently passed away, so I thought this would be a good thing to do in his memory.”

Not only is it close to her heart, but the Rhode Island Veterans Home is also only a few miles down the road from campus and has served generations of veterans since the Civil War era.

With a recent major renovation, Director Bill Camara said the Veterans Home now supports about 200 veteran residents of the facility, many of whom received Valentine’s Day cards written by RWU students as part of an earlier effort by the ICC to connect with the veterans in the university’s backyard. Camara, who appeared as a guest judge for Cake Off, said he always appreciates working with RWU students who volunteer their time to assist the veterans and was happy to collaborate again for this tradition.

“The Town of Bristol has always been supportive of the Veterans Home, and Roger Williams University has always been a part of that,” Camara said. “You have one age of the population on one end and the younger generation coming up, and it’s always good to see them getting together.”

For many students, supporting the Veterans Home provided a meaningful, personal connection to the annual competition.

“Military service has been a big part of my family – it goes back generations – and having the chance to improve the lives of veterans made Cake Off all that more special this year,” said junior Kevin Taratuta.

While Arnold acknowledged that it’s a lot to ask college students to give monetary donations, the annual event proved once again to be a successful fundraiser. Students and faculty from across campus came together and raised more than $2,000 for the Rhode Island Veterans Home.