"had it been another day, i might have looked the other way, and i´d have never been aware..."
Saturday, January 3, 2009
more than 2400 cookies later...
First off, I have at least a couple thank yous to throw out there. After two months of baking, I am excited to say I’ve raised more than $6000 for the students at the school in the Buduburam Liberian Refugee Settlement, roughly $3000 of which has already been disbursed . Over $2000 came through cookie sales, and the rest from very generous donations. On behalf of the students and teachers in the camp – and from me too – a huge thank you to everyone who contributed. I especially need to thank my December bakers. While I have learned that bake and boozing, and baking with a hung over group of people might not be the most effective way of working, the support and laughter made it completely worthwhile.
Of course, it is not even close to over. The children go back to school after their Christmas break on Monday, and while the money raised so far will buy bread, oranges and water well into this term, this school will stay open indefinitely. The hunger doesn’t end, and neither do the benefits that come from the smallest donations. $40, while perhaps a lot for four dozen cookies, takes care of one more day of feeding that wouldn’t happen otherwise. Jonah, my Liberian food coordinator, tells me it has been a somewhat tense time in ‘Little Liberia’… Ghanaian elections and run-off elections have been underway for the past few weeks which make many Liberians nervous. Repercussions from the financial crisis continue to be felt on camp, making everybody nervous, just as we are here. However, Christmas was a pretty happy time on camp and the New Year holds optimism for Buduburam and Liberia.
I have come up with a winter menu of Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, Mrs. Davison’s chocolate chip, snowflake sugar cookies, gingersnaps, chocolate dipped espresso cookies and Chocolate and Vanilla Marble cookies (a new order form is up further down on the blog). They continue to all be made with fair trade chocolate and sugar. I’ll be back in Kingston on Monday and will be selling cookies only from there… If there is anybody interested in attempting to do a small scale version of this cookie thing in Kitchener-Waterloo (or anywhere for that matter) let me know with an email - I’d love the help!
All in all, let’s keep this going... Order and re-order cookies, tell your friends, and keep me and the Liberians in mind. I can always use new ideas for expanding, so if you have them please don’t hesitate.
Thank you all again, this has been unbelievable so far.
Of course, it is not even close to over. The children go back to school after their Christmas break on Monday, and while the money raised so far will buy bread, oranges and water well into this term, this school will stay open indefinitely. The hunger doesn’t end, and neither do the benefits that come from the smallest donations. $40, while perhaps a lot for four dozen cookies, takes care of one more day of feeding that wouldn’t happen otherwise. Jonah, my Liberian food coordinator, tells me it has been a somewhat tense time in ‘Little Liberia’… Ghanaian elections and run-off elections have been underway for the past few weeks which make many Liberians nervous. Repercussions from the financial crisis continue to be felt on camp, making everybody nervous, just as we are here. However, Christmas was a pretty happy time on camp and the New Year holds optimism for Buduburam and Liberia.
I have come up with a winter menu of Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, Mrs. Davison’s chocolate chip, snowflake sugar cookies, gingersnaps, chocolate dipped espresso cookies and Chocolate and Vanilla Marble cookies (a new order form is up further down on the blog). They continue to all be made with fair trade chocolate and sugar. I’ll be back in Kingston on Monday and will be selling cookies only from there… If there is anybody interested in attempting to do a small scale version of this cookie thing in Kitchener-Waterloo (or anywhere for that matter) let me know with an email - I’d love the help!
All in all, let’s keep this going... Order and re-order cookies, tell your friends, and keep me and the Liberians in mind. I can always use new ideas for expanding, so if you have them please don’t hesitate.
Thank you all again, this has been unbelievable so far.
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