Every year we host our largest fundraiser for our annual sterilization and vaccination camp, our pre order Christmas bake sale. Our school community is highly support of our bake sale which means a lot to our service, as it makes the camps possible. Due to restrictions in the system we had to make it pre order instead of a live bake sale hosted during lunch. That didn’t bother us too much as we were able to still make more than enough funds for our upcoming events. This way those who purchase the goods, purchase with the intent of helping our service and wanting to make a difference.
This event is one that is close to my heart, as not only do we work hard to earn as much as possible to sterilize and vaccinate more dogs, but it is a way for our group to work closely in collaboration. Sam and I have been baking buddies for the past three years and have made some ground breaking goods that always become a hit. It is sad to think that this is mine and Rashmi’s last time baking goods for a cause that means a lot to us. As a service group, we have all enjoyed this process of mixing, baking and decorating. Though it can be a stressful process it is a rewarding one that is frequently filled with memories.
The entire process took us three weeks this year, due to other school commitments in the calendar like the secondary musical. This took a lot of planning and action days to become a possibility. It took us one service lesson to get permission and plan the whole process out, after which we advertised and created a list of all the baked goods we intended on baking. We created a list along with a list of prices that was then entered into a google form to be sent out sometime late November. In the midst of it all we were busy baking over the course of three days, two of them being weekends. Though it was a major time commitment it was super fun! Each member worked diligently on their separate recipes and were focused and dedicated to what they were doing. I was super proud of their efforts and enthusiasm as each of them wanted to do more and help quicken the process. After hours of kneading, rolling, cutting, baking and decorating we put everything to freeze so that we could take them out closer to the delivery dates. Once the google form was sent out to teachers and parents we started receiving order after order – a total of 34 order forms. I was in awe of the support we received from the community, we were grateful. Though the large number of orders was something we were celebrating it meant we had a lot of plating to do. During the first two weeks of December we spent one organizing the specific orders people had placed and when they chose to pick up their order, followed by a session of us plating everything and having them ready for pick up. With Christmas music playing in the background our service teacher, Ms. Francemone, called the group a work line of elves.
These were the plates available for purchase and which customer was allowed to purchase a maximum of 2 different kinds of plates due to the limited number of stock we had.
- Elf Plate (400)
- Grinch plate (800)
- Santa plate (1200)
Any of the following sugar filled goodies could have been on the plates, the quantities varied depending on the price of the plate.
- Sugar cookies
- cinnamon sugar cookies
- 7 layer bars
- Butterscotch chocolate chip cookies
- brownies
- peanut butter balls
- snow balls
We sold a total of 54 plates which was well above our intended amount! We set a goal of selling 40 plates and we were able to surpass our goal. Overall it is safe to say that this process was a huge success though we spent hours behind the scenes in the kitchen whipping up plate after plate, it was a rewarding and memorable experience. It was warming to see the smiles on everyone’s faces as they took their first bite into the cookies bought. This means that we are one step closer to hosting our annual sterilization and vaccination camp — oh how time flies.