Since 2015, CASA has partnered with Claiborne Hills Supermarket to provide personalized birthday cakes at to children served by CASA volunteers in Hancock County. This Candles of Hope Birthday Project has been co-funded by the Misfit Street Krewzers, who have been supporters of CASA for years.

In 2024, CASA expanded from Hancock County to also serve Harrison & Stone Counties by recruiting, training, and supporting volunteers who advocate for safe & permanent homes for children in foster care. As part of this expansion, CASA Program Director Lauren Saucier began to explore options to provide birthday cakes for children in Harrison & Stone Counties.

One September afternoon, Lauren walked into Quality Bakery in Wiggins to request a quote for personalized birthday cakes for children in foster care. As bakery owners Danielle & Gordon White were discussing their desire to sponsor these cakes, their phone rang. A family friend Rachel McGill was calling to order a birthday cake for her late son Kaiden, who tragically passed away last year. Rachel also explained that if there were ever a child or family who could not afford a birthday cake, she would want to cover the cost in Kaiden’s honor.

Danielle & Gordon shared their recent conversation about CASA cakes with Rachel, and on October 9, 2024–what would have been Kaiden’s 18th birthday–the three friends met with Cynthia Chauvin and Lauren Saucier from CASA of South Mississippi to name this project Kaiden’s Candles of Hope. Through this partnership, cakes are ordered and made at Quality Bakery and then delivered by CASA volunteers to their assigned children in foster care in Harrison & Stone Counties.

Many thanks to Claiborne Hills Supermarket and Misfit Street Krewzers for providing birthday cakes since 2015 to children served by CASA from Hancock County.

Thanks to Quality Bakery in Wiggins & Gulfport and the K. Ryder Foundation for providing birthday cakes to children served by CASA in Harrison & Stone Counties!