Bake Sale for Malawi

In January, I asked our youth night girls what their goals were for this year. The overwhelming unanimous response was that they want to help others and make a difference in the world. Since then, we've been praying for local and global opportunities for them to do just that.

Last week, we learned from some International Teams missionaries in Malawi that there is a food shortage crisis in the refugee camp there. You can read the details about it here: http://www.iteams.org/us/2012/03/rations-short-for-dzaleka-refugee-camp-in-malawi/. So Hannah and I told the girls about it on Wednesday night, and they jumped at the chance to do something to help - a fundraiser... a bake sale! Oh goodness... when was the last time I did a bake sale? ...Have I EVER done a bake sale...?!

Yesterday morning started at 7:30 for Hannah and I... we had a pot of coffee, made a grocery list of supplies and ingredients, checked it twice, and then left our list at home when we went to the store. This was not on purpose. We tried and were actually successful in remembering and buying everything we needed. Then we picked up one of the girls and ran home. Thet Thet and I organized the mixing, baking, cooling/decorating, cleaning, and publicizing stations around Little Burma, while Hannah and Shannon gathered the rest of the girls.

At 11:00, the girls started working. In three hours, they mixed, baked, decorated, and packaged four dozen brownies, two dozen cupcakes, two dozen chocolate chip cookies, two dozen sugar cookies, three dozen peanut butter cookies, two dozen cake pops, and two bowls of "Chips O' Joy." They also made and posted signs around our block, set up an attractive sales table, decorated price placards, and wrote little thank you notes for our potential customers.

At 2:00, they took their places on the sidewalk with signs and at the table, giggling and bouncing and anticipating a great response. They made up a cheer that they shouted until they were hoarse: "HELP re-fu-GEES in MaLAWi - Whoop!" At one point, one girl was very concerned that none of our signs said anything about our cause, so she made a long banner that said it in big, bright words. Near the end of the time, they even walked door-to-door in the neighborhood with their goodies. The result was $170! Today we took the leftovers to our ESL classes and earned about $35 more. We still expect a few sales tonight and tomorrow - our goal is $240. $10 can provide enough food for one person for one month, and $80 can provide food for one person for the rest of the year.

I was so impressed with the girls, and am still amazed when I think about their love - their eagerness to help, the joy they found in serving others and campaigning for the support of the hungry. That kind of love-in-action changes lives, and changes the world!

Making signs

The Street Team



Mixing...

...Molding...

...And Baking!

The Packaging Table

The Cake Pop Masters!

The Sale Table



We are so excited!

The Epic Sign

The Advertising Team

"HELP re-fu-GEES in Ma-LAW-i!"

If you weren't able to come to the bake sale but would like to give to help feed the refugees in Malawi, go to the link above, and it will tell you how to give. We invite you to join us in this cause!