Sugar Rush & Charities

Something exciting happened recently, I saw my simple idea come to life and it was bigger and better than I expected. I'm talking about Sugar Rush. While making Cake Pops, I usually have time to do some thinking and soul searching. As far back as I can remember, my Mother would help others; by supplying a meal to someone that had lost a loved one or had been in the hospital. She was selfless in her giving and prayers. I knew that when I started my business, that I wanted to give back to my community, to carry on my Mother's tradition of helping others. I try to donate a Cake Pop arrangement as a auction item, to every charity that approaches me for a donation, but it didn't seem like enough. One day last year, I came up with the idea of a dessert sampling paired with a charity and so Sugar Rush was born. Right after that, my business really took off and I could not find time to work on this new project. That is until the Drury University SIFE team approached me about helping me promote my business. I explained my idea and they jumped at the chance to help me plan and get this off the ground.

We met on a weekly basis and my admiration for these students grew. They worked so hard to help get this idea off the ground and I am proud to say that it was a big success! I had chosen the charity, Care to Learn Foundation. They help children in our area, who are in poverty, by meeting their daily needs for items from shoes, coats, food and even hygene products. It was so fun to work with Morey from Care to Learn.

The event was held on November 16th at The Veridian, who graciously volunteered their venue. The evening was magical and a total Sugar Rush! We definitely named it correctly! Ha! There were over 350 tickets sold and more than 400 in attendance, including vendors. 24 restaurants, bakeries and coffee shops brought their best desserts for sampling. We even debuted our new flavor of the month for December; Chocolate Peppermint Cake with crushed Peppermints on top. Deee-lish! I'm still not sure of the amount that we raised but will find out the final numbers next week. We are hoping that the funds that we raised will be matched by Care to Learn founder's brother, Brad Pitt and by Bass Pro owner, Johnny Morris.

If you are in the Springfield, Missouri area and missed this wonderful fundraiser, you only have to wait 1 year. Yes, we will be hosting the event again next year and hopefully it will be bigger than ever!