Ten-year-old Girl Raises $100,000 Selling Cookies to Fight Rare Children’s Diseases

Dana’s first idea was to sell lemonade but since she lives in Colorado, she knew her selling campaign would be limited to the summer season.  She had to come up with an alternative concept.  Dana and her mother had a fun habit of baking together during which time the inspiring idea to bake cookies popped into her head.  She knew that most people love cookies and indulge in the treat all year long.  She called her newly created campaign, Cookies4Cures. 

Dana started her caring mission when she was only seven years old.  She and her mother typically spent two days a week baking the cookies right in their home kitchen.  Dana would then hit the streets every weekend, pulling her little red wagon around her block attempting to sell the cookies door to door to her local community.  Her first goal was to make $1,000 in sales.  “It was so hard, it took us three months,” Dana recalled of her first tiring yet rewarding sales attempt. 

Dana soon decided to move her Cookies4Cures campaign online and that was when sales really started to take off.   At the end of the year, she had surpassed her goal and raised a whopping $56,000.  The concept was simple, she baked the cookies and then invited others to donate online to fund research for rare diseases in exchange for her delicious, mouthwatering cookies.  Her page went viral and soon she had so many requests she decided to have her family and friends chip in and help bake. Together they held cookie pop-up events which resulted in a unique opportunity to educate people on the rare diseases they are helping to fight.  The campaign has quickly grown, and they now have almost 100 volunteers.

Cookies4Cures is now focused on raising awareness for the Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) disease.  Her friend Ben who suffers from SMA, a disease which weakens muscles, is clearly impressed with Dana’s outstanding sales efforts. “It is truly impressive how much they are raising.  They are going to give 50,000 for my disease,” Ben excitedly said.   

Without a cure, it is scientific research that provides hope to children and their families that one day one will be discovered.  It is this hope that motivates Dana to keep busy baking and boxing for causes dear to her heart.  Each box is a labor of love with a variety of cookies for a mission to save children’s lives.  

PassItOn recognizes Dana Perella as a hero for going the extra mile in the fight against rare and fatal children’s diseases.  Her efforts will help give children the greatest chance to live the very best lives they can.  Her compassion and cookies campaign are a great example of the value “Do Your Part.”  Dana strives to help eradicate children’s diseases by baking one cookie at a time.  Please help us honor this young hero by sharing her heartwarming story.

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/k2yqO74WLyo

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