Our Overdue Follow Up To Our Patriots Game Bake Sale

Ah, Football
As you can see, nothing too glamorous.  This was, however, the absolute most fun I've ever had at a bake sale!  It may have been because it was low-key, or maybe it was the support of an RV full of people...or it could have been the cold beer...  Either way, this -our final bake sale for 2011- was awesome.


Hitting The Pavement
The table didn't last but 5 minutes.  The RV lot stayed pretty barren on our end, so we took the show on the road and hustled for No Kid Hungry.  I am a genius for bringing baskets with handles and having this guy as my right hand man for the night was a HUGE plus! Many thanks to Dave for a job well done and really embracing the No Kid Hungry Message!!

I want to note, if strength.org saw a huge spike in hits between the hours of 6-8, it is most likely because I had to show practically everyone I spoke with that:

Yes, I am for real

Yes, all of the money will help feed hungry kids

...YES, there ARE hungry kids

and

Yes, I can back that up!

Cheers to the creation of the Smart Phone

Swag In The Stadium

We brought it!  Whether or not we made it on the tube is another story... Either way, Team No Kid Hungry made it's presence known inside and out of Gillette and hopefully we reached even just a handful of people.


Pick Of The Night
At every bake sale I always come across that one person.  Someone who really listens and will leave to make a difference. A chance encounter, during a brief altercation with a man who had been bitten by a camel (blog for another day) was how I met Chad.  Not enough good things I can say about the conversation we had, but let's leave it at - this guy gets it!  Chad, if you happen across this blog, I hope you make it to Taste of the Nation Boston and can't wait to introduce you to the hubby!

~*~

To everyone who has supported Cookie Central's 2011 Great American Bake Sale campaign, Thank You!!  It has been a phenomenal year from beginning to end and we look forward to doing it all over in 2012.  Please check in over the next few months as we blog our way to Taste of the Nation Boston as the official Hunger Message Chair!

~*~

It Only Gets Better & Better

Get In The "KNOW"
 
Allow me to divert your attention to THIS BLOG POST written by Jeffrey Wood from Tyson Foods.  That's right folks this little cookie lady is a Tyson Foods Hunger All-Star and all of us here at Cookie Central are thrilled!

Since 2000 Tyson Foods has been involved with the fight against hunger.  They are a proud supporter of Share Our Strength, Lift Up America, Feeding America, and Food Research and Action Center. They strive to educate people across our nation about hunger in their communities and motivate them to get involved in hunger relief with their newly released KNOW Hunger campaign.  Over the course of just more than a decade, they have donated more than 78 million pounds of protein, "enough protein to have served one meal to every American citizen".  I'll break for a moment to give you all time to stand and applaud.

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One Last Run

With a little luck -and quite a bit of strong-arming- we have snatched up 2 tickets to The Patriots game for November 21st, leaving me incredibly happy to announce our Great American Bake Sale at Gillette Stadium is back ON baby!   


PLEASE NOTE: We will no longer be in P2.  We will be rolling in style and will be parking in the lot where the.....wait for it..... RVs park (ha ha).  I would like to refrain from making any less than politically correct statements, but do want to throw out there - if anyone local has a couple of pink plastic flamingos and a blow-up kiddie pool we can borrow, I will be eternally grateful.  We will also be experimenting with a suggestion we came across on The Bake Sale Neighborhood.  FREE COOKIES.  That's right, we will be giving it all away for the doughnut (no pun intended), with donations graciously accepted of course.  We will also be bringing our No Kid Hungry swag to the seats, so keep an eye out for us behind the goalpost in the north end zone.  GO PATS

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We're Jumping Ship

No, I'm just kidding.  The hubby and I are, however, hopping on the committee for Taste of the Nation Boston 2012!  Curious who the big dog is? Why, non other than Eve Lee who hosts one of the nations most successful Great American Bake Sales, was nominated for the GABS Community Leadership Award (sorry Eve, better luck next year :P) and has been volunteering for Taste of the Nation for several years now.  I welcome you all to follow along as I tweet the bag out of this bad Larry (as my husband would so eloquently put it).

Taste of the Nation is one of Share Our Strength's 5 campaigns.  This culinary benefit designed to raise awareness and funds for the fight against childhood hunger is THE go-to place for food lovers!  Taste events are hosted all across the country and you can check to see if there's one near you HERE.
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Share Your Holiday Season With Us

*$10 Will Be Donated For Every Holiday Basket We Sell*

Friends Basket

$35

2 Dozen Assorted Cookies

Family Basket

$55

3 Dozen Assorted Cookies

1/2 Pan Classic Brownies

Gourmet Basket

$75

4 Dozen Assorted Cookies

1/2 Pan Classic Brownies

1/2 Pan Butterscotch Blondies

Call or Email Today 

978-423-1215

mycookiecentral@gmail.com

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Taste of the Nation Baltimore and Conference of Leaders 2011

This past weekend we closed up shop for a few days for Share Our Strength's Conference of Leaders and Taste of the Nation Baltimore.  It was a weekend full of inspiration, education and food, glorious food! 

Taste of the Nation Baltimore
For those of you who read our post about Taste of the Nation Boston, you very well know The Cookie Lady is all about gorging...and gorge I did!  Of the 20-some participating restaurants, I spent the most time with Wit & Wisdom where I ate enough maple custard with caramel sauce and vanilla crumble to put the entire room into a food coma. My hubby and I mixed and mingled with the incredible people like famed chef Timothy Cipriano,  Eve Lee, host of the Great American Bake Sale at Philips Healthcare, Bill Wooldridge one of Share Our Strength's Cutting Edge Scholarship Program participants and many, many more.

TOTN Baltimore Had A Photo Booth!   

see the entire flicker stream here

What an absolutely GREAT idea!  People could hop in the booth, snap a couple pictures and bring home a No Kid Hungry keepsake.  The pictures were also projected on two large screens during the event...some information I could have used before hoping into the booth :P.  

Conference of Leaders
This was a weekend full of such inspiration, such education and such passionate people, but I realize my attempt at writing about the entire conference in an itty bitty little blog post would be feeble at best.  That said, I would like to hilghlight two of my favorite portions - Cooking Matters and the Getting Personal With No Kind Hungry session.

Cooking Matters - Share Our Strength's food education course that teaches families, teens and individuals how to prepare healthy, delicious food on a limited budget - staff and volunteers were prominent throughout the entire conference.  To know that Share Our Strength offers a program to help parents and children really work with what they get (which, too often, is very little) is fantastic.  There was a lot of discussion about nutrition and food insecurity and this is a phenomenal campaign that helps families face challenges they may encounter.  I especially love that Cooking Matters is rocking it out up here in the northeast!  Check out the Cooking Matters home page for links to downloadable tool kits, finding a program near you and getting involved.

One of my favorite sessions, Getting Personal With No Kid Hungry, was interactive!  Led by Amy Crowell - Director of Great American Bake Sale & Grassroots Fundraising, this session gave me the opportunity to meet Aleta Greer, woman behind Coins For Kids, hear from Jackie Price who started hosting bake sales at 14 and has since raised over $10,000(WOW!), and brainstorm with other session participants on how to expand, better and evolve Great American Bake Sale.  GABS is a campaign that, obviously, I love!  To have the chance to hear other participants feedback was awesome and there is much that I will be taking away and utilizing in my 2012 campaign.
 
10 Things You Missed At Share Our Strength's Conference Of Leaders 
Blog Post By Clay Dunn

Other Awesome No Kid Hungry Links: Get Local, Best Practices

5 Fun Off Topic Facts About My Weekend: written by me :)

• Occupy Baltimore has approximately 15 tents
• If you stay at Days Inn Inner Harbor you get a bag of microwave popcorn...and a microwave
• If you take the escalators down from the ballroom in Renaissance Inner Harbor, you will not be able to get back up without walking around
• Fred got pulled into the airport security box on the way home
• We were on the same plane as Billy Shore (heading to Baltimore) and Jason Santos (heading home)

Flash Mob at Conference of Leaders

 

Just another reason to love Jessica Bomberg - Senior Coordinator of Great American Bake Sale

WOOOOOO!!!

I am honored and humbled to receive Share Our Strength's 2011 Great American Bake Sale Leadership Award!  Please find Share Our Strength's press release with the names of all 17 award winners HERE

Again, WOOOO!!!

Very Special Thank Yous To:   
Our Campaign Sponsor - BJ's Wholesale Club of Haverhill, MA
The Ladies of Great American Bake Sale - Amy Crowell, Jessica Bomberg and Sylvia Vidal
Twitter Peeps That Really Helped Spread The Word - Ty Sullivan, John Scroggins, Amanda Hite, Joel Owens, Jamie L. Simon, and Steff Childs
Facebook Peeps That Did So Too - Carolyn Kolowsky, Brian Gardner, Monte Tareski & Steve Presley, Herbert Chao
The Friends of Kevin Radio Show - Especially Kevin Willet
My Little Girls - Jazmin & Mia
My Parents- Who show up at every event
My AWESOME Husband - who I now owe $10

Links for everyone who participated in 2010 & 2011 are located in the left sidebar.  THANK YOU!

A Kindle, A Baker & A Holiday Tag

Win My Kid A Kindle!

My daughter's 10th birthday is October 13th and now that she's a little older, she has decided to ask for one big present rather than one big party.  Wondering what she asked for?  A Kindle of all things!  And oddly enough, this is exactly the prize for Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale's Take Your Best Shot Contest!!

 Why Vote "Team Cookie Central" Today?

Just look at that face....

 **VOTE TODAY**

Vote Team Cookie Central (Michele Gorham)

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*Join The Fat Baker Club*

**During the month of October, we will donate your entire membership fee to Share Our Strength to support their efforts to fight childhood hunger in America*

 

It is great customers like you that keep Cookie Central running! As a way to give back we now offer The Fat Baker Club, featuring free monthly giveaways, discounts on all your orders and a complimentary gift basket when you sign up. Check out the Fat Baker Club Blog to learn more.

 

***Yearly Membership Includes:

5% off All Your Orders For The Entire Year

One Compilmentary Gift Basket

(includes chocolate chip, snickerdoodle and oatmeal raisin)

Automatic Entry Into Our Monthly Giveaways

 

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Share Your Holiday Basket

If your like me, you've alerady started your holiday shopping, possibly having some of the presents wrapped and ready to go.  So for all you early birds, here's a preview of what basket specials we will have available for 2011.  What makes these basket that much more special, is that each is attached with a Share Our Strenght holiday gift tag, letting your friends family and client know that you too are making a difference.  Wth each basket sold, a $10.00 donation will be made by Cookie Central to Share Our Strength and support their efforts to fight childhood hunger in America.

Friends Basket

$35

2 Dozen Assorted Cookies

Family Basket

$55

3 Dozen Assorted Cookies

1/2 Pan Classic Brownies

Gourmet Basket

$75

4 Dozen Assorted Cookies

1/2 Pan Classic Brownies

1/2 Pan Butterscotch Blondies

 

That's A Wrap! Our 1st Annual Great American Golf Tournament

 Great American Golf Tournament Follow Up

Our Take Home Bags & Centerpiece

Month's of planning and within a day our 1st Annual Great American Golf Tournament is over.  For all of you out there dancing to the sun gods, many thanks! We were graced with a gorgeous 80 degree day with lots of sun and the day's events from registration to saying farewell went off without a hitch. Together we raised about $3,900! (final total to be determined by the silent auction results).



Thank You To All Our Wonderful Players

Methuen Fire

Comprised solely of friends and co-workers, the field of players for our tourney was just outstanding.  It was our goal to create an event that people would enjoy and look forward to each year.  To see so many supporters join us for our first ever Great American Golf Tournament was heartwarming and motivation to revisit the event in 2012...which is already in the works!

The lovely Mandy!

 To Our Wonderful Volunteers Thank You!

 We could not have done it without you!!  A big fat thank you to Mandy and Abbey who did an unbelievable job throughout the whole tournament, Lisa of LI Designs who took most of our pictures and my mom Sharon who helped get things rolling at registration.

I'd also like to send a very warm thank you to Dennis McCarthy of Lazarus House Ministries who, even though was not on the volunteer roster, showed up (twice) to donate his time.  What incredible support!

The Incredible Fred

To My Wonderful Husband Fred

Like I mentioned on The Friends of Kevin Radio Show, "It always seems to start with Fred..." and without a doubt, this golf tournament was all Fred.  He got the golfers, ran the games, he made the speech at the reception, heck* he even came up with the idea!  To have him hop on the bake sale band wagon with me and be so excited about doing it all over again next year is phenomenal.  We have truly become a family fundraising for No Kid Hungry...and that's just plain awesome.


To Our Wonderful Sponsors, Vendors & Donators

1st Hole

KBK Sports who hosted the silent auction and whose founder is the VP of The Lowell Spinners.


Blast Mixer Smoothies, Lemonade and Skinny Alternative Energy Drinks for hosting a table at the registration area and making a charitable contribution to our tourney.

Click Here For The Full List of People Involved
 
A Big Fat Thank You to Merrimack Valley Golf Club!  

The View From Registration/Clubhouse

 Awesome, awesome people!  I showed up well before I was expected (a habit of mine) and was greeted by the most exceptional staff.  From the help with set up to coordinating the tournament, these guys were top notch.  We heard from just about every golfer that the course looked incredible and played well.  Merrimack Valley Golf Club



Incredible Food From Simply Elegant Catering!

Breakfast's Coffee & Pastry Table

Simply Elegant Catering provided us with the most incredible guy -Andrew- to manage the meals served at our tournament.  He bent over backwards for us and was a great addition to the tournament staff for the day.  Sam and Michele were very accommodating and really made a huge impact on the success of the day.  Also, they donated all the left over food from the tournament to Lazarus House Ministries' emergency shelter. 

Other Fun From The Day

1, 2, 3...Shoot!

Carts were driving around the course offering samples of wine, scotch and tequila. I know, I know- It sounds like a bad idea, but the golfers loved it!

Posing for the camera

Bobby (right) and my wonderful husband Fred (left)

No, we're not kidding.  This guy actually shot the worm....

The Putt Off

Our 11 Finalists

The Peanut Gallery! Or should I say hecklers.

Dennis Gillespie, who didn't make the $5K putt (sorry Dennis!)

Great American Golf Tournament Donations & Sponsors!

It's almost here, our 2011 Great American Bake Sale finale!  

Great American Golf Tournament

8:00 Shotgun

Monday, September 26th

Merrimack Valley Golf Club

Methuen, Ma

Below is a list of all our wonderful sponsors, participating businesses and raffle prizes donated.  So many thanks to everyone involved!!

Links for everyone can be found in the left sidebar.

Register Here......Volunteer Here......Donate Here

Have an awesome day everyone!

Tournament Winner Prizes

Haverhill Country Club Foursome

Bradford Country Club Foursome

Merrimack Valley Golf Club Foursome

Raffle Prizes

3) Adobe Photo Shop Elements 9 (Donated by Bill Sahlas)

$75 Gift Certificate to Burton's Grill

3) $50 Gift Certificates To The Loft (Donated by MerchantCircle)

Ticket to Taste Of The Nation Boston 2012

$50 Gift Certificate to Independent Tire

$100 Gift Certificate to A Great New Look

Dinner for Four from The Meat House

2) Lube/Oil/Filter Changes at Trombley Bros., Inc.

Pizza Party from Stachey's Olde-Time Pizzeria

4 Passes to LaserCraze

One Month Membership to Choice Fitness

Starbucks Gift Basket  

Ice Cream Cake from Mad Maggies

$35 Gift Certificate to New England Seafoods

$25 Gift Certificate to Atkinson Country Club

$25 Gift Certificate to Jamie's Restaurant

$25 Gift Certificate to Palmers Restaurant

$25 Gift Certificate to Outback Steakhouse

$25 Gift Certificate to T.G.I. Fridays

$25 Gift Certificate to Mexico Lindo

$20 Gift Certificate from Stop N Shop

$25 Worth of Free Product from Cedars Foods

Hole Sponsors

 Auclair's Auto Body
  Auto Spa Car Wash
    Bada Bing
    Bada Boom
    BJ's Wholesale Club of Haverhill
    Body Works Auto Body
    Boles Funeral Home
    C & D Auto Glass
    Durso & Jankowski Insurance Agency
    Global Glass
    Jamie's Restaurant
    LaFlemme, Barron & Chabot Attorneys At Law
    LI Designs
    Merrimack Valley Corp. Climate Design Systems
    Merrimack Valley Property Maintenance
Methuen Fire Department Local 1691 (2)

Mike Condon Councilor at Large

Polar Bear Insulation

Ron Marsan Candidate for East District Councilor

The Sweetheart Inn

The Wonderful Businesses Involved

Gardner Graphics
    The Swamptones
    K & K Floral and Design
    Jungle Stuff
    Lounge 59
    Chuckles Comedy Club
    Boston Auto Glass
    Merrimack Valley Golf Club
    Bj's Wholesale Club

September Update For Cookie Central's Great American Bake Sale Campaign

National Baking Week Follow Up

Did you know we ran a promotion for Great American Bake Sale's National Baking Week August 29th-September 4th?  If you answered "No" you are not alone!  While we had three of our lovely customers participate by joining our new rewards program The Fat Baker Club, all of us here in the Cookie Central kitchen think that we can do better.  With that said, get ready for the month of October when we will be revisiting our Fat Baker Club/National Baking Week promotion.

During the entire month of October we will be donating 100% of all the membership fees for The FBC to our Great American Bake Sale campaign!  Have plans to thank your clients with our corporate baskets, send a few gift baskets to friends and family, or order some of our wonderful decorated cookies?  With the holidays coming, everyone can benefit from the 5% discount, free cookie basket and monthly giveaways.
Subscribe to our blog.and check out The FBC Blogger page for updates


Cookie Central on The Friends Of Kevin Radio Show
 That's right folks, we hit the airwaves to promote our upcoming golf tournament and talk about Cookie Central's 2011 Great American Bake Sale season.  A special shout out to WSMN Radio and the incredible Kevin Willet, founder of Friends of Kevin and host to the show! Make sure you check out some of our other YouTube videos we have posted.  PLEASE NOTE*** The Cupcake Wars audition video is not suitable for all audiences.  There's your disclaimer, consider yourselves warned ;)

Great American Golf Tournament 

"Driving For No Kid Hungry"

Well, it's getting close people. Plans for our tourney are rolling right along and boy do we have some awesome prizes!  Tourney winning teams will each receive a foursome to one of three local golf clubs. Raffle prizes range from restaurant gift cards to Adobe products.  We will be joined by Lowell Spinners VP for a silent auction of sports memorabilia.  Whiskey and wine tasting will take place on the course and don't forget the incredibly awesome band we will have during the reception (Dinner & A Show tickets are available for non-golfers).  Needless to say, it's going to be an amazing event, BUT registration closes this Friday. So if you are coming, register now!!

Do You Dine Out?

September 18th marks the beginning of Dine Out For No Kid Hungry.  Restaurants will will support Share Our Strength's efforts to fight childhood hunger in America by offering specials, gifts and promotions from 9/18-9/24.  This is a nationwide event that many of your favorite restaurants may already be involved in, so make sure you check out the Dine Out Map to see who's participating in your area. 

 


Excuse Me While I Take Off For......
It's that time of year and Cookie Central will be closed October 14-18 as we attend Share Our Strength's Conference Of Leaders and Taste Of The Nation Baltimore.  I'm thrilled to say that I've been nominated for the 2011 GABS Community Leadership Award...and not by my mother (whoop, whoop!).  I can only imagine I will be pouring out a whole boat load of tweets during the conference, so if you would like to follow along please follow me on Twitter. 

As always, thank you for reading! ~ Michele Gorham :)

~

National Baking Week Is On

That's right folks! Great American Bake Sale is hosting National Baking Week right now.  From August 29th until September 4th, bakeries across the nation will join together to fight childhood hunger in American.  Do you know of a bakery involved (besides us, of course)?  We are looking to reach out to the other incredible people working to fight for No Kid Hungry. Please feel free to shoot us any info to Michele at mycookiecentral@gmail.com.

Now for OUR portion of National Baking Week:
 
We were proud to release our new rewards program The Fat Baker Club August 29th (you may have seen our promo for it a couple posts ago).  What The FBC is, is a way for frequent flyers to Cookie Central to save on all orders -5%, including on sales and specials!- , receive a complimentary cookie basket -our way of saying thank you for joining- and get entered to win our monthly giveaways which will range from free products, to great discounts, to complimentary specials.  During National Baking Week, we will be donating 100% of the $40/year membership fee to Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale.


Think this is a great promotion and want to do more? Recruit your friends to The FBC and we will send you a free half dozen of snickerdoodles for every member you bring in!  


Don't forget!!

The holidays are coming and we offer a wide variety of great specials to cover anyone on your shopping list.  This is a great opportunity to help fight hunger and save on your holiday shopping! 


This is also a great way to save on all those decorated cookies!  Baby showers, bridal showers, wedding receptions, anniversary parties and more.

Follow along with FBC news on The Fat Baker Club Blog Page

Cookie Central's 3rd Annual Great American Bake Sale Continues

We've had a CRAZY July campaigning for Great American Bake Sale! 
Our Cookies With Care online promotion was a success.  6 care packages were bought and over $100 was raised for No Kid Hungry.  Again, a huge thank you to the folks at Lazarus House for helping us to set up and promote this campaign! Our bake sale at The Meat House and 4th of July (well 3rd actually) on The North Andover Common brought in almost $650 and the bake sale at Philips Healthcare, hosted b the incredible Eve Lee, raised a whopping $4350!  I am thrilled to say we are at 36% of our fundraising goal....and we are not stopping.

What's to come?

We published in our last blog our plans for Great American Bake Sale's National Baking Week.  The Fat Baker Club site is in the works and we are so super excited about it's release August 29th.  Remember, not only can you save big and win big, but when joining during Great American Bake Sale's National Bakery Week 100% of your membership fee will benefit Share Our Strength!  Please stay tuned for our next blog with full details.
 

 We have a band! 
That's right folks, we have secured a band for our Great American Golf Tournament.  The incredibly awesome New Orleans style blues/jazz/funk band -The Swamptones- will be providing the entertainment for the dinner portion of our tourney!  Because we know many of you do not play golf (we certainly do not), we have available Dinner & A Show tickets for just $40.  Join us for an afternoon of great eats and awesome tunes all to benefit the fight against childhood hunger.


I know what I said;

I Tweeted on and on about the bake sale at Philips Healthcare being the final "bake sale" of the season.  Well...statement retracted!  Not even a couple weeks out and the bake sale bug struck again.  While the plans are in uber rough stage right now, the intentions are to bake sale while tail-gating at Gillette Stadium...because nothing can go wrong with that :/.  Probably not the classiest bake sale we will host this year, but I have a good feeling it will be a whole heck of a lot of fun!


Thanks For Reading! ~ Michele Gorham :)

~

Great American Bake Sale's National Bakery Week Is Coming

Introducing

The Fat Baker Club

August 29th-September 3rd Cookie Central will be participating in Great American Bake Sale's National Bakery Week and introducing our *New* rewards program The Fat Baker Club.  This is a great opportunity for all you frequent flyers to save big, win big and help in the fight against childhood hunger in America!

Gain Access To

A set 5% off all order year round (including sales and specials) 

Access to our monthly giveaway contest*
A complimentary gift basket**

100% of Memberships Received During National Bakery Week Will Be Donated To Share Our Strength and Support Their Efforts To Ensure Children At Risk Of Hunger Have Access To Nutritious Food Where The Live, Learn and Play.

*Registration begins August 29th*

~***~

*The monthly giveaways will include Cookie Central products, gift cards and additional discounts on orders.  By being a member of the FBC, you will automatically be entered into this monthly contest.

** Your complimentary gift basket (valued at approximately $30) can be delivered/shipped to the location of your choosing.  Gift basket will include; 2 Dozen assorted cookies (Chocolate Chip, Snickerdoodle and Oatmeal Raisin).  Shipping or delivery charges may apply.

~***~

A Follow Up To Our Final Two Bake Sales of 2011!

Our Great American Bake Sale At The Meat House

How's Your Heat?

Talk about a hot, hot, hot bake sale!  Ill admit, I was nervous going into this event when I heard the temps would be in the mid-nineties and I would be sharing my tent with a lit grill.  But alas, the bake sale gods shined down and we came ever so close to selling out.  We were also graced with the presence of Heather co-owner of Planet Marshmallow (one of the incredible products sold at The Meat House).  A little tip, get the Peanut Butter Bash...incredible!  The days total was 2 dollars shy of $300, putting our Team's total to $1816.00 for the year. We'd love to hit that $2,000 mark before our Great American Golf Tournament (hint, hint).

Special Thank Yous

Thank you out to The Meat House of North Andover for letting up set up shop in front of their store, the event literally would not have been possible without their help.  Also, a huge thank you to The Meat House social media marketing department for their overwhelming support with Tweets and ReTweets before, during and after our event.  Thank you also to Denise Smith who purchased a Cookies With Care package which will be delivered to Capernaum Place and benefit the fight to end childhood hunger in America!  The reception at this event was one of the best to date!  Thanks to everyone who stopped to shop and learn more about Share Our Strength and Great American Bake Sale.

The Great American Bake Sale at Philips Healthcare (Andover)

3 buildings, dozens of bakers, a raffle, fresh squeezed lemonade and $4350.00 for No Kid Hungry! 

What an awesome, awesome, awesome event!  This was the 3rd year Great American Bake Sale filled the lobby(s) of Philips Healthcare with the event growing lager and larger every year.  To date, Philips Healthcare's Great American Bake Sale has raised $10,763.05!!

The Incredible Eve Lee everyone!

Many thanks to Eve Lee, hostess of the event, for the invite to participate!  Not only does Eve play hostess to this event, one of the most successful Great American Bake Sales in the country, but she also helps to coordinate Taste Of The Nation Boston, which is where we originally met this past April.  I love connecting with others dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America and the fact that Eve does so, so much for Share Our Strength and is literally minutes away is just great!

Bake Sale Participants: Some Inspiration For Packaging & Product!

One of the most common questions in The Bake Sale Neighborhood (a social platform for Great American Bake Sale participants to meet, ask questions and share advice on how to have a successful event) is in regards to what to bake and how to package it.  So here are some great sell outs that were at the day's event. 



Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods
I love the fact these were made by a Cookie Central Facebook Fan!  Laurie C. made these wonderful treats that added so much flare to the table..for the short time they were on it (Sold Out!).  She did say they were a bit time consuming, but if you have the time I would definitely recommend batching out a few for your next bake sale.



How adorable are these!?! Blue fondant stars on top these chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream.  Cupcake wrappers like these can be found at your local craft store.





Chocolate Covered Oreos on a Stick! 
These suckers sold, sold, sold.  They are easy to make and can be decorated with a variety of sprinkles.



Here's a creative and inexpensive way to package those individual cupcakes.  Simply drop the cupcake in a clear disposable cup, cover with plastic wrap and tie with a ribbon.



Give your individual cupcakes a bit of flare!  Sets of bags and cake (or in this case cupcake) circles are available at your local craft store



~

Summer Hunger

Did you know, 31 million children living in our country receive free and reduced priced school lunches?  With summer officially in full swing, and the majority of us planning vacations and trips to the beach, the thought of those affected negatively by the end of the school year often falls to the wayside.

You may be thinking to yourself, "Hungry kids? What Hungry Kids!", but the truth is we are surrounded by children living not only with hunger, but in poverty and in some cases homelessness.  In fact, there are approximately 80,000 people at risk of hunger in Essex County, MA alone.

In and around our community and across the country there are a number of different organizations committed to providing children with summer meals including breakfast, lunch and snacks.  These programs are designed to help children gain access to nutritious food throughout the summer months, but the children at risk of hunger and their families need to know about these programs for them to be successful.  Helping can be as simple as clicking one little tweet or share button.   Below is some information on organizations in our community working to fight hunger.  If you know of a child(ren) at risk of hunger, and even if you don't, please share this information.  It could mean a summer's worth of meals for a child at risk of hunger.  #BeTheChange

Thanks for reading! ~ Michele :)

Project Bread  Food Source Hotline 1-800-645-8333 and Hunger Map
National Hunger Hotline at 1-866-3-HUNGRY

Child Nutrition Outreach Program: Resource Page

Local area food banks and pantries that can connect you with summer feeding programs: Lazarus House, Cor Unum, Bread and Roses, North Parish Church, Merrimack Valley Food Bank, Dracut Food Pantry, Table of Plenty 

National organizations making a difference: Share Our Strength, Feeding America

Oh look, pie! A Follow Up To Our July 3rd Bake Sale

"Oh look, pie!"

We went pie happy for our 3rd of July bake sale on the North Andover Common!  While the pies didn't move as much as we would have liked, just about everything else on the table did.  Our table was loaded with Lemon Pound Cake with a Strawberry/Lemon Curd Filling, Coffee Cake, Cookies and Brownies, but the biggest seller of the day was none other than the good ole fashion Chocolate Chip Cookie Pop!  If I could find a way to put everything I bake on a stick, I don't doubt for a second that we would sell out at all our events.

Looking back at last years event, all 95 degrees of it, I must say we lucked out with a slightly overcast and much cooler day.  In addition to our baked products, we raffled of an Ice Cream Maker which was won by The Schwartz Family holding raffle ticket #881590. Congratulations and happy ice cream making!  The total for the day came in at $346.00 all of which has been donated to Share Our Strength and their efforts to ensure children at risk of hunger have access to nutritious food where they live, learn and play.

A huge thank you to all the wonderful people who came by our table!

More Bake Sale News!

BBQ & Cookies!

With a slight eep, we look towards our next event this coming Saturday (July 16th) from 2-6pm at The Meat House in North Andover!  Join us for FREE BBQ and cheap cookies for a cause.  Find details on our 2011 GABS Summary Page .

Our July Online Promotion Cookies With Care. 
Help to fight childhood hunger in America and acknowledge the successes of the residents of Capernaum Place working their way out of hunger, poverty and homelessness.  A special thanks once again to the wonderful people of Lazarus House who have helped us to put this promotion together!  Find additional information about this campaign HERE.

Registration is now open for Great American Golf Tournament
Join us for an exciting 18 hole scramble full of games, contests and other super exciting stuff!  Not a golfer? Purchase tickets for the dinner/raffle portion of our event! For full details and links to everything you need to know check out our Great American Golf Tournament Page


Find out more about how you can help in the fight against childhood hunger in America! http://strength.org

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