Six-year-old Jaxon Hughes blended his growing baking abilities, some quality time with Dad, and a desire to help others into a meaningful fundraiser for Ridge Meadows Hospice Society.
The Maple Ridge youngster woke up one morning late last month with a hankering to help others.
Turning to his dad, Steve, Jaxon asked if they could have a cookie stand and sell some baked goods to make money.
What the heck. Why not? Dad thought.
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“The previous weekend, the local kids were talking about lemonade stands,” Dad recalled. “Then Jaxon came up with a cookie stand. It was never planned to be anything more than a few cookies.”
Steve put word out on Facebook about Jaxon’s little undertaking. Word spread fast, and people began messaging, wanting to come by to purchase some of his cookies.
“It escalated really quickly as our first batch of 24 sold out in a few minutes!” Dad recounted. “We ended up baking two more batches and people started donating.”
They ended up baking and selling “a whole bunch” of chocolate chip cookies that day – 72 to be exact.
“People bought them all,” Dad said, noting people were especially anxious to help when they learned Jaxon was donating all the money to Ridge Meadows Hospice Society.
What started out as a simple cookie sale turned into a massive fundraiser – at least for this youngster who’d never done any fundraising before – although he had delivered clothes to the homeless.
Steve baked so many cookies that day that he had to borrow two cups of chocolate chips from a neighbour. And they went through rolls of wax paper to ensure Jaxon could individually wrap each cookie – making it safe and easy for people to pick up the morsels from Jaxon’s contactless cookie stand in front of his home in Mayo Place.
“I didn’t expect it to go crazy,” but it did, said Dad.
“People donated without even getting cookies,” Steve added, noting that “someome from Mission sent us $20 and didn’t even want cookies.”
Steve is pretty proud of his young son’s efforts to help bake and sell the cookies for a cause that’s dear to both their hearts.
Jaxon lost his grandma (Steve’s mom) almost a year ago and received what Dad described as some invaluable and free grief counselling from hospice that helped him deal with the loss. So, when it came to picking a charity to receive the money, hospice was the obvious choice.
After several failed attempts to connect in person with the staff at the Ridge Meadows Hospice Society, Jaxon delivered his donation this past Wednesday, June 17. It included the $75 he raised through cookie sales, and a $30 donation from the Hughes family.
In exchange, they gave the boy a thank you card with a message: “Your great fundraiser helped us so much. Way to be so kind,” signed by Lindsay and her team at hospice.
“We will be doing it again,” said Dad, waiting for a weekend that isn’t as wet as the past few.
“I am always trying to teach him to be kind,” and it is obviously paying off.
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