Hometown Hero: Noah Rabinowitz of Dix Hills baking cakes for Mercy Soup Kitchen in Wyandanch
Noah Rabinowitz, 15, of Dix Hills, has been baking cakes for the Mercy Soup Kitchen since this past summer. Credit: Newsday/Kendall Rodriguez
A Dix Hills teen is truly baking a difference.
Noah Rabinowitz, a sophomore at Half Hollow Hills High School East, has baked hundreds of cakes since this past summer for local families in need as part of a program he created called Noah’s Community Cakes. The sweet treats are donated to the Mercy Soup Kitchen at Trinity Lutheran Church in Wyandanch, which provides free lunches during the week and relies on donations for desserts, he said.
Rabinowitz’s goal is to donate a total of 1,000 cakes by his 18th birthday on June 1, 2026. So far, he said, he has provided close to 350 cakes.
“I feel that it’s very important to give back to the community,” Rabinowitz said. “Most families where I live have enough food to live, and I think they should give back to the families that don’t.”
Rabinowitz, 15, typically bakes four vanilla or chocolate cakes at a time on Sundays and then wraps them in foil for delivery to the soup kitchen before school on Mondays, he said. His biggest baking effort to date consisted of enlisting fellow students to bake 100 cakes for Thanksgiving and then another 100 for Christmas.
“Noah regularly makes the cakes himself for our volunteers to slice and wrap for individual servings, but for the holidays, he recruits others to help him make up to 100 cakes so our guests can take home a whole cake,” said the soup kitchen’s president, Vito Colletti. “His dedication and continued support of our mission to serve the less fortunate members of our community is an inspiration to all of us here at the Mercy Soup Kitchen.”
Rabinowitz has received donations of cake ingredients from Half Hollow Hills East teachers through the school’s One World Youth Club, as well as a donation of $300 from One World, an organization that designs programs to help prepare youth for the 21st century. The group also recently issued a certificate of recognition to Rabinowitz.
“I’m very surprised that this many people have seen what I’m doing, and they’re appreciative,” Rabinowitz said. “When I started the program, I used my birthday money as well as some donations from family and close friends to help me get the program started.”
Rabinowitz is a member of his school’s soccer, tennis and track teams, as well as the One World, DECA, Mathletes and Future Business Leaders of America clubs. He is also a member of the teen board at Temple Beth Torah in Melville.
For more information on Noah’s Community Cakes, or to donate to the program, visit noahscommunitycakes.com.
Nominate a Long Islander who goes above and beyond or serves as an inspiration to their community. Send details to Michael Ebert, michael.ebert@newsday.com.
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
