On Saturday, October 10th, The Depressed Cake Shop hosted a one-day pop up in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood at Sole Repair. Grey colored cakes, cupcakes, cookies and more were on sale, with the proceeds benefiting The National Alliance on Mental Health. Although the pop-up was scheduled until 2pm, everything was sold out by noon–what a success! Pop up shops have been increasing in popularity over the past few years, particularly for charity purposes, and with the continued success of events like this, it seems like the trend will only increase. The benefits of pop up shops are clear–they allow businesses and communities to come together over shared interests, combine resources, and test out new ideas in a low-risk way. Judging by the Tweets, Facebook posts and Instagram photos, Seattle residents came out in full force to support The Depressed Cake Shop. And for a great cause. This entire event was dedicated to raising awareness of mental illness, and with nearly 60 million Americans experiencing a mental health condition every year, it’s definitely time to change the social stigma.
The Depressed Cake shop has events all over the country, providing tool kits, support, and information for anyone interested in gathering more resources on mental health. The organization began in 2012 when Emma Thomas, a PR Director in the United Kingdom, decided to create a unique (and delicious) event. Her directions were simple: baked good, all grey, with a small pop of color to represent hope. The event was so successful that it drew attention all over the United Kingdom, inspiring a community of bakers to create pop up events of their own. Each event’s proceeds go to a different charity devoted to mental health.
The National Alliance on Mental Health, the charity chosen by the Seattle event, has a powerful mission statement:
“People living with mental illness need help and hope: they need a community that supports them, their families and their recovery. Because mental illness devastates the lives of so many Americans, NAMI works every day to save every life.
NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. NAMI advocates for access to services, treatment, supports and research and is steadfast in its commitment to raise awareness and build a community for hope for all of those in need.
NAMI Greater Seattle staff and volunteer leaders work in our local community to raise awareness and provide essential and free referral, support, education, and outreach surrounding mental illness.”
The community behind Depressed Cake Shop events is incredibly active, with over 10,000 Facebook members. So not only do these events directly benefit charities, but they build a network of similarly situated individuals that can support one another. With mental health still being such a source of stigma, the more outreach, awareness, and normalizing that can be done to advocate for the one in four Americans that live with various mental illnesses, the better.
