A little girl's love for her late grandmother culminated in a cupcake baking and decorating spree that should earn a mention in the Guinness Book of Records.
Last Wednesday, 11-year-old Megan Day and her mother Kerry delivered 400 decorated cupcakes to customers at Parkside Elementary School and White Spot.
It was only the first batch, as Megan has more cupcake orders to fill on the first Wednesday of May and June too. However, that first batch raised $870 of Megan's goal of $1,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society's Colours of Cancer campaign, so she is expecting to exceed her fundraising goal.
All of the work is in memory of Megan's grandmother, Jane Moore, who passed away last June at age 54 of ovarian cancer.
Megan's mother, Kerry, has a home-based business of making cakes for weddings and special events, but admits she started panicking when the orders starting growing exponentially.
"It was a little girl's idea," Kerry told The Star. "My mom was like a second mom to Megan, and my best friend. She was an amazing lady who would have done anything for anyone. We feel blessed that if only for a short time she was ours. We saw so many people and families struggling with this terrible disease while in and out of the hospital. It really opened our eyes."
Their extended family is close-knit, so when Jane and her husband Wayne moved to Aldergrove from Surrey, both Kerry and her sister Donna also found homes for their families in Aldergrove shortly after.
Kerry gives full credit to Parkside school for being so supportive: "Parkside was all for it, the PAC put it on their website with order forms — and many of the buyers put extra money in, saying keep the change for the Cancer Society."
Kerry also enlisted the help of family members in filling the orders, and delivery went smoothly on April 3.
"It's an overwhelming success, and we thank everyone," said Kerry.
Young Megan has also dedicated her solo dance with Aldergrove's Studio One to her grandmother — a solo to the music of Faith Hill's "There You'll Be."
"It's an idea she got from a bracelet Jane bought her. There's a different coloured gem for each type of cancer, and the colour for ovarian cancer is teal," said Kerry. "Megan's costume is teal."
Megan has performed her dance at dance festivals in Surrey and Chilliwack and will be performing it on the May long weekend in Whistler.
After making so many cupcakes the dance should be a cake walk for Megan.