Students bake cupcakes, raise money for Harvey victims

When eighth-grader Camryn Lynch saw the destruction inflicted in Houston by Tropical Storm Harvey during a video presentation at school, she wanted to help.

She and schoolmate Logan Dame, a pair of 13-year-olds at Guardian Angel School in Oran, Missouri, responded with a deluge of cupcakes.

Lynch and Dame, a seventh-grader, teamed up with their families over Labor Day weekend to bake and deliver 40 dozen cupcakes. Five more dozen were in the works Tuesday night in an effort that raised $750.

A video was shown at school last week to promote awareness and to get students to think about ways they might be able to help. Lynch and Dame knew the damage was bad, but they didn't realize just how bad.

"It was a lot worse than I thought it was," Dame said.

"It was really kind of sad and devastating, so the whole time I was kind of thinking, 'Man, I wish I could really help them,'" Lynch said. "I was thinking I could help them."

While watching, she came up with the idea of raising money by baking, a passion she has shared with her grandmother "since second grade, a long, long time ago."

She called her mom on the way home from school.

"She loved the idea," Lynch said. "She always likes me to be able to help people. So when I called her, she was like, 'That's a perfect idea.'"

Lynch asked Dame, a close friend who also likes to bake, whether she would like to help, and a plan was put in motion. A dozen cupcakes -- an option of vanilla or chocolate -- would sell for $10, and the fundraiser would be posted on Facebook. The idea took off.

"We only thought we'd get a couple orders, but then they just kept coming and coming," Dame said. "We had to stop taking orders."

The parents of the two girls, who split the expenses to fund the operation, also helped in the baking and delivery, as did Lynch's two older teen sisters, Lydia and Allison. Saturday's baking spilled into their aunt's oven next door. The sales had to be cut off at 45 dozen.

"We just weren't equipped for that kind of volume. We don't own a bakery or anything," Camryn's mom, Dana Lynch, said with a laugh. "We baked 28 dozen on Saturday and then we delivered them on Sunday, and then we baked another 12 dozen Monday. ... It was an eventful weekend."

The money will be donated to the Red Cross.

"It's a lot of money, and I didn't think we would get near as much money," Dame said. "People just donated money that didn't buy cupcakes."

One donation came in for $120.

"I went into it pretty stressed, but actually, it was pretty fun," Lynch said.

jbreer@semissourian.com

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