FORT DODGE, Iowa — For Elizabeth Watnem, living in foster care was difficult. She told Local 5 that understanding of "feeling alone" as a foster child is something she's trying to alleviate a bit with her business, Sweet Snax LLC.
Free of charge, Watnem bakes birthday birthday cakes for children living in foster care, because she knows "it makes a difference. And a birthday isn't a birthday without a cake... Not just a name or a number, like you're known and you're cared about."
Sweet Snax operates in the brightly-colored basement of Watnem's home in Fort Dodge. Since starting the business around 2020, demand has increased for not only the birthday cakes but also for cupcakes and wedding cakes.
In fact, Watnem told Local 5 News, "I have weddings lined up for next year, and 2026 already. It's crazy."
It's a job that means a lot to Watnem because she also understands what it's like to not have a birthday cake.
"Not knowing how to adult or how to transition back into what is normal for me ... it was difficult for me," she said.
Watnem told Local 5 that, without spending time in foster care, she wouldn't have finished school or found a job after graduation.
Watnem also spent time living in Arizona, where she spent about one year as a foster parent before giving birth to her biological children.
"Knowing that I have provided stability, and a safe place to fall at the end of the day, you know, where they're not going to worry about where their next meal is coming from, or where they're going to sleep, or if anything bad is going to happen," Watnem said. "I think that is the biggest thing."
She said she has thought about potentially parent foster children again in Iowa, but wants to wait until her children have grown up a bit.