Philly woman's bake sale helping kids impacted by gun violence

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Baking for a cause. Pauline "PJ" Dzima has turned her passion for creating sweets into a side hustle and now she's using it to address social issues.

Her pop-up bake sale will help kids impacted by gun violence, with all the proceeds benefitting local Philadelphia nonprofit, the Beloved Care Project.

Dzima, who runs PJ Bakes, says the Beloved Care Project is an organization dedicated to helping kids impacted by gun violence find a safe space and a voice to share their pain and frustration.

Recently, she's held a pop up bake sale to fund fuel for a cargo planes in the far Northeast heading to the Ukrainian border. She's also been a participant of nationwide effort known as Bakers Against Racism, where she's raised money following the murder of George Floyd.

But after a weeks of major shootings across the country, she went back to baking for a cause - looking to help those impacted by the gun violence in her own backyard.

"These are the kids who are living through the violence on the regular and hearing their stories and recognizing how strong they are - that left a huge impression on me," she said.

Dzima is a mentor for Beloved Care Project and in the past she's raised anywhere between $200-$500, recently raising over $1,000 for Ukraine with her baked goods.

Her menu for the pop-up bake sale benefitting the nonprofit drops this weekend for Juneteenth.