A sweet success
January 26, 2010
Brandie Weikle
PARENTCENTRAL.CA EDITOR
Never underestimate the power of a group of moms with cupcakes.
Like many parents, when Susana Molinolo first heard the news of Haiti's earthquake, she could barely comprehend the destruction.
The co-chair of Bowmore Public School's parent council felt that some sort of school fundraiser was needed, so she contacted fellow parent council mom Nancy Botelho. They settled on the concept "Cupcakes for Haiti."
When Molinolo emailed Rachel Muir, senior designer at Top Drawer Creative, she had a poster back within an hour that was used to replace profile pics on Twitter and Facebook, helping the event go viral.
Meanwhile, Molinolo started emailing other parents and neighbours asking for bakers to come forward. On Saturday, at the sale outside the house she shares with husband Brian Gahan and their 3- and 5-year-olds, people purchased cupcakes for prices ranging from $2 a piece to – wait for it – $437.50 (part of a box from Desmond and Beatrice that was auctioned).
The event has raised $9,800 so far for Medecins sans Frontières; that will be matched by the Canadian International Development Agency. Molinolo estimates this bake sale will raise $20,000.
Read Brandie Weikle's blog at thestar.blogs.com/parentcentral.
Toronto Star