The sun was shining on Friday afternoon as family and friends gathered in Garden IX for “Sweets for Shelley: Alpha Phi’s First Annual Bake-Off,” in honor of former University student Shelley Goldsmith. Goldsmith, a sister of the Alpha Phi sorority, passed away earlier this semester.
“Shelley loved to bake and she was always coming up with so many different, creative recipes,” said third-year College student Alexa Rosenstein, a sister of Alpha Phi. “We thought this would be a good way to honor her memory.”
Rosenstein said some of Goldsmith’s beloved recipes included dark chocolate peppermint patty cookies, Cinnamon Toast Crunch cookie bars and peanut butter-Nutella concoctions.
Thirty teams signed up to participate and presented baked goods that ranged from dark chocolate kahlua cake to pumpkin spice coffee cake to simple brownies and cupcakes. Teams of up to five could enter the competition for $15. A team of students from the Delta Gamma sorority, “The Bakers,” won the competition by a landslide with pumpkin-shaped and flavored rice krispy treats and were awarded a $200 gift card to Toro’s Tacos.
Both of Goldsmith’s parents, Rob and Dede, attended the event.
“It’s a great event,” Rob Goldsmith said. “It’s really touching that people did this. I think it really captured who Shelley was. She loved to bake and she loved to give back to charity. It’s been amazing — the support for us and the outpouring love. Our hope is that some good will come out of Shelley’s death — things like this.”
All of the funds raised will go toward the Shelley Goldsmith Memorial Fund, a scholarship her parents set up in her name.
“[The event] was perfect,” said fourth-year Commerce student Katherine Roderick, the event organizer. “It was such a beautiful day and we had so much support from the U.Va. and Greek community. Everything went really smoothly. A lot of people came out and it was great to see everyone’s involvement.”
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