Nathaniel - one precious Cookie
The other day, I went to update our Cookies for Kids’ Cancer Facebook fan page only to be totally distracted by five pictures of the sweetest little boy eating yummy-looking cookies and clearly enjoying every bite. The cute face had my attention but curiosity got the best of me since I did not recognize the name of the woman who posted the images and could not tell if the beautiful little boy was simply enjoying Cookies for Kids’ Cancer cookies or eating leftovers from a bake sale. With no other explanation attached to the pictures, I decided to be nosy and reach out to the poster in hopes of learning more. Sometimes being nosy pays off. . .in response to my note, I received the note below. . .
” I wish I could say that we’d done a bakesale but we haven’t yet. We’re in LA and I can’t think of a good place to hold one, and our schedule is pretty hectic now catching up on all the stuff we didn’t do during Nathaniel’s treatment.
What we did instead of a bake sale was promote Cookies for Kids’ Cancer at a party we had for Nathaniel to celebrate the end of his neuroblastoma treatment and thank everyone who was so supportive throughout it. We wanted to get the word out about Cookies for Kids’ Cancer since lots of our friends have asked for ways to help out. We made up goodie bags for each of the guests at the party, with one of each flavor of the Cookies for Kids’ Cancer cookies and a thank-you note that included the website to order more cookies online.
When we gave them out we told Nathaniel’s story and how impressed we were with the neuroblastoma program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, and let everyone know that they could order cookies and direct the proceeds to that program. Everyone loved the delicious cookies and will hopefully order more for themselves and as gifts now that they know how good they are and what a great cause they support! We had extra bags so we gave those out to my former co-workers and the team my husband is training with for a triathlon that benefits oncology at Children’s Hospital LA, and it sounds like a lot more people will be ordering your cookies online!
I’m from Santa Cruz and grew up eating Pacific Cookie Co. cookies (my dad had a retail store near their original, pre-earthquake store downtown) so I was delighted to find that that’s where you order your cookies from!
We’ll keep getting the word out about your organization and maybe find a way to do a bakesale one of these days!”
My jaw dropped. The beautiful face I saw on our Facebook page is one of a survivor - a little boy only 20 months old who has already faced pediatric cancer. And the yummy cookies the survivor was eating? None other than the cookies we sell right here on our website, year round, in an ongoing effort to raise money to support pediatric cancer research. And why, you might ask, did I not post Nathaniel’s beautiful face on our blog? Well, you are welcome to see him, but you’ll have to go to our Facebook page. And become a fan. Nathaniel’s face is totally worth the effort!