Siblings Bake All Night to Protect Children from Violence: Interview with Noah & Aspen Redecopp
This article is part of a series featuring the amazing individuals who offer their time and talents to fundraise for us.
Most of us are familiar with marathons, walk-a-thons, bike-a-thons and even dance-a-thons. But what about an all night Crazy Overpriced Baking Wake-a- thon?
Noah and Aspen Redecopp are two dedicated young teens who used their energy and baking prowess to raise money for IJM Canada. They happily (and sleepily) shared their story with us.
Noah (left) & Aspen (right) prepare ingredients for their baked goods.
1) Tell us a bit about yourselves.
Aspen: I am 12 and going into grade 7. I play soccer and like art and baking.
Noah: I am 14 and going into grade 9. I play basketball and other school sports.
2) What is your event? How did it get started?
This is our 2nd annual 'Just Act' Crazy Overpriced Baking Wake-A-Thon. Two years ago we asked our mom if we could just stay up all night then last year we decided to be part of Just Act. What we do is stay up all night baking treats for people who donate.
3) Who are your role models?
Mainly sports figures like [football player] Tom Brady and [soccer player] Christine Sinclair.
4) What are your goals for the future?
We both want to keep doing sports. Noah is interested in engineering and I (Aspen) am interested in sports medicine.
5) Why are you passionate about injustice?
My family started learning about global poverty seven or eight years ago and we heard about International Justice Mission. My mom worked for IJM Canada for over three years and we learned a lot about poverty, slavery and other injustices. My mom is now a professor at a university and she has taken us on some of her travel studies with her students. I (Aspen) went to Africa last year and we visited the IJM field offices in Rwanda and Uganda. It was good news that Rwanda was finishing up its work with sexual abuse as the police and their justice system were more becoming more effective. In Uganda we learned about IJM’s work with property grabbing. Noah went to Guatemala and El Salvador 3 years ago on a similar trip. He learned about the work IJM does with child sexual abuse.
We have heard a lot of stories about things kids our age have had to go through. It's sad because no kid our age should have to go through things like sexual abuse, slavery or being forced off their land.
6) Describe one of your favorite moments from the Crazy Overpriced Baking Wake-A-Thon.
I (Aspen) really enjoyed the baking and we both liked staying up all night without our parents. My favorite thing to bake was brownies and Noah’s was fudge. We did like going to bed the next morning.
7) Can you share with us a story of when things have not gone according to plan?
We had a few mishaps with the baking. The worst was when a double batch of brownies crumbled when we tried to take them out of the pan. We have plans for lots of brownie sundaes for those ones.
8) Why should someone your age run a fundraiser?
Why not? Kids can help to stop injustice around the world too.
9) Just for fun: if you could learn the answer to one question about your future, what would it be?
Aspen – What will my profession be and will I make any professional sports teams?
Noah – Will I ever break a world record?
