San Francisco's 'Muffin Man' bakes for homeless

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Jacob Kaufman from San Francisco is also known as "The Muffin Man."

That's because he bakes muffins for the homeless, and launched National Muffin Day, which is held on the last Sunday of January.

"What I like to do on National Muffin Day is get as many people around the country or even around the world to bake muffins with themselves or with friends and families and go into their cities where there's homeless or hungry people and hand out muffins," Kaufman said.

This year, Kaufman is having a baking party at Hayes Valley Bakeshop. His goal is to bake a few thousand muffins. Kaufman is rallying others to join the cause, take a picture baking or handing out muffins, and post it on social media with the hashtag "GiveMuffins." For each baker, he will donate $10 to Project Homeless Connect.

CEO of Project Homeless Connect Meghan Freebeck says funding will go toward nutrition and healthy eating programs. She says these muffins are more than just food. "It's showing people that we see you. We see you here. We're not just going to walk by. We recognize that you need support. And while the big picture goal is a home, we may not be able to always do that every day, but we can show that we care."

Kaufman became "The Muffin Man" five years ago. He was working as a lawyer and a made a batch before work. "I had one and it was good," he said. "But I had 11 muffins left over. So I thought, OK, maybe tomorrow I'll walk to work and down Market Street hand them out to homeless people. And it felt really good and people were really appreciative. "It really changed my view on homelessness."

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