Toby Magyar’s senior project at Columbia Adventist Academy will feature her baked goods, for sale, with proceeds going to Bumi Sehat, a birthing center in Bali

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday

It is a passion for a project, fueled by the love of family and food.

And it is a bake sale with an international connection.

A Ridgefield teenager who attends Columbia Adventist Academy in Battle Ground has launched a website in order to raise funds for a birthing clinic in Bali.

“From a young age, it has been ingrained in me to give back, and baking has always been a big thing my entire life,” said Toby Magyar. “Combining these two things is … basically who I am at my core. Who I am at my core is helping, and baking, and trying to spread the word about important causes that I believe in.”

Magyar is selling baked goods to raise money for Bumi Sehat, a birthing center in Bali, Indonesia, that provides medical care at no cost for underprivileged women. It is Magyar’s senior project for Columbia Adventist, but also is part of Magyar’s own goal of working in the medical field. Magyar is working on becoming a pediatric surgeon.

Magyar, in fact, traveled to Bali this past summer as part of a medical camp through Global Leadership Adventures. That organization brings teens all across the world to take part in community service projects. In Bali, Magyar and peers visited homes, asked questions, and recorded medical data for experts. While there, Magyar also visited Bumi Sehat.

“We got to watch two women give birth,” Magyar said. 

The group also met with the clinic’s founder, Robin Lin, who was CNN’s 2011 Hero of the Year for her work. 

“Their mission is pretty amazing,” Magyar said: Try to help a child come into a safe and loving environment.

Women also do not have a maximum stay. One mother recently stayed at the clinic for nine months after giving birth because the mother did not have a safe home to return to with her baby.

“Hey, you are here now. You’re home,” Magyar said the woman was told.

The clinic also has three cars in order to transport women to and from the clinic. Imagine going into labor and riding on a moped to the clinic, Magyar noted. Or, holding a newborn while going home on a moped or motorcycle.

Magyar’s two weeks in Bali inspired her to want to do more. Back in Clark County and Columbia Adventist Academy, Magyar had an idea.

“Baking has always been a passion of mine. I’ve been baking since I was a little girl,” she said.

Columbia Adventist requires its seniors to complete a senior project, with at least 40 hours of service toward the goal. Magyar said she will be doing a lot more than 40 hours, combining her longtime passion with her new one: Baking food to raise funds for Bumi Sehat.

For Magyar, food is family. All holidays and birthdays are more opportunities to bake something special for the family. For generations, the family has baked challah bread. Now it is Toby who has mastered the art of making that bread. Plus there are jams.

“As a little girl, we’d crush all the berries,” Magyar recalled, noting that she and her cousins made weekends out of baking. “We had hundreds of jam jars. It was a really crazy, amazing experience.”

The goal is to raise at least $1,000 through the bake sale. Magyar’s website went live this week: https://www.tobystastytreats.com/

“For my senior (project), there was nothing else I could do other than selling baked goods to my community,” Magyar said. “I put so much love into this.”

She added that her baked goods are now famous at school. She also “stress-bakes” so when there is a big test coming up, her classmates know there will be plenty of goodies brought to campus.

That also works with her philosophy that food is such an integral part of family. 

“Food is what brings us together,” Magyar said. “Getting in the kitchen, being together, is a way to become a family.”

She is very close to her mother, Allie, in part due to baking, Toby said.

Magyar said her friends and teachers and others who work at Columbia Adventist Academy have become her second family, too.

For the bake sale fundraiser, she has challah bread, cinnamon rolls, brownies, chocolate banana bread, chocolate chip cookies, and jam.

Magyar also keeps it local, getting her berries and eggs from the region.

“The amazing thing about living in Washington and the Vancouver area is there are so many farms everywhere,” Magyar said.

The fundraiser for the school project will run through mid December. Magyar is willing to deliver in the Clark County area, or there will be a pick-up spot. Plus, the website allows for donations to Bumi Sehat without ordering food.

Beyond the website, Magyar and her baked goods are expected to be at the Salmon Creek Farmers Market on Oct. 3. She also plans on going to a few holiday markets in Portland in November.

Magyar also wants to continue raising funds for Bumi Sehat after the senior project is complete. 

“I’m not just doing this for a school project,” Magyar said. “I’m doing this because I really want to support Bumi Sehat. I really love baking, and I want to share this with the world.”