9-Year-Old Bakes 'Cookies4Cures' To Help Raise Money For Rare Pediatric Diseases
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4)- A 9-year-old girl in Boulder is taking cookie sales to new heights. In two years, Dana Perella will have raised more than $100,000 to help fund research of rare pediatric diseases by baking and selling cookies.
"Adding the powdered sugar right now," Perella said.
Even at 9 years old, she has more experience baking then most, spending one or two days a week devoted to what she calls Cookies4Cures.
"I had this friend Mila who I met at speech therapy and I found out that she was sick with a rare and a fatal disease called Batten," Dana said.
When she learned her friend's disease could end up taking her life, she wanted to help. She and her mother Alexis decided they would bake and sell cookies for Mila, to raise money.
Her goal was to raise $1,000.
"It was so hard, it took three months and we pulled our little red wagon along the block and then we'd sell cookies and ask for donations," she said.
She eventually took her mission online, starting a GoFundMe page that quickly caught some attention.
"Sometimes we were getting $100 a minute and then at the end of the year we had raised $56,000," she said.
That success fueled her desire to continue campaigning. The following year she would raise $30,000 to help fund research for the rare disease pediatric acute-onset neuro-psychiatric syndrome also known as PANS.
"Usually we just give them a huge variety of cookies," Dana said.
This year she is helping a new friend, Ben. He was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) as a child.
"It's truly amazing how much they are raising they are going to give they are going to raise $50,000 for my disease," Ben said.
Dana is already busy baking and boxing Cookies4SMA.
Each one for her is labor of love.
"You have to like… hope and something to push you," she said.
Dana launched the Cookies4SMA campaign on Monday with a goal of raising $50,000.
If you would like to donate or would like to purchase cookies, find information on their next cookie sale at their website below or by emailing them directly: info@cookies4cures.com.
LINKS: Cookies4Cures | Cookies4Cures GoFundMe | Cure SMA