Baking For Others Might Benefit You

Take a page from this 98-year-old baker

If you're debating whether to bake that cake for a friend's party this weekend, you might want to simply say yes. Leo Kellner would. The 98-year-old man who lives in Nebraska took up baking after his wife died in 2012. In his first year, he made 144 pies, Today reports. He didn't eat them all, but rather shared them with people in need. He worked with local funeral homes and community organizations to reach families who were struggling.

His efforts have spread out since then. "I've gotten thank-you cards from Alaska, where they've attended a funeral for which I've furnished a cake," he says.

Kellner seems to only support recent comments from psychologists in a Huffington Post article explaining that baking is good for one's mental health. "It can be helpful for people who have difficulty expressing their feelings," Susan Whitbourne, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Massachusetts, explains.

Kellner says he took it up when he "didn't know what to do" with himself. "I was moaning and moping, and I said, 'I've got to have something to do,' and that's how it started."