Great American Bake Sale: North Little Rock

As a food channel junkie, I first heard about the Share our Strength's Great American Bake Sale on Food Network. I always thought it would be wonderful to organize a local bake sale, but I never put any real effort into pursuing anything. When I saw that Christie Ison of Fancy Pants Foodie was needing help with the bake sale she was organizing, I jumped at the chance.  

It was kind of a personal mission for me since I know what it's like to have to depend on food charity and the generosity of others. My family didn't have much money when I was a child and there were some really lean times. We were given food by family and church friends; there were a few times that food came from local food banks. I know it was harder for my parents than it was for me and my brothers since we didn't understand exactly what was going on. 

I spent Friday night making banana nut muffins and lemon blueberry muffins. I figured those would be the easiest to wrap individually and I wouldn't have to worry about messy frosting. Plus, they are my favorites. By the end of the night, Hubs was helping me package and label each of the 4 dozen muffins. 

The North Little Rock version of the Great American Bake Sale was overwhelmingly successful. The unofficial total was $949 raised to help end childhood hunger! Christie did a wonderful job of recruiting professional bakers and bloggers to donate baked goodies. Christie has a real knack for engaging people and I was impressed by her natural warmth toward everyone that came by the sale.

I took Little Miss with me and she was a big help. Sometimes a bit too much of a help, but I was glad to see that she was eager to participate. It's important to me that she learns to serve others and I try to include her in as many community service projects as I can.

In all, it was a great day. I met some really fantastic people (Saige, not Paige) and learned quite a few lessons regarding, surprisingly enough, marketing. I'll share that later :)