As many of you know, this past weekend we had the Livy's Hope fundraising event, and it was a HUGE hit! It was such a great weekend, on so many levels. Not only were the sheer number of people that attended staggering, but the excitement level at the bakery was just so fun - fun not only for the customers, but the cake bar staff as well. 
I'll be honest, we started this whole thing thinking that we were going to make a couple hundred Livy's Hope cupcakes over the span of a weekend. Because of that, I didn't really put a ton of thought into the amount of effort each butterfly would require, or the materials needed to make the butterfly. So, you know how the Livy's Hope cupcake was 3D with pink dots all over it? Well, that was my brilliant idea. Which , if I do say so myself , made all the difference in the cupcake cuteness factor:) Initially we were only planning to make 200 cupcakes, so what was the big deal, I thought? Piping polka dots on 200 butterflies is nothing - we do it all the time. Well, fast forward to a week before the event when we realized over 1200 people had been invited to the event through social media outreach, and that over 300 were planning on attending, with the potential for purchasing 6+ cupcakes each. Then, the polka dots and 3d wings didn't seem quite so cute.... or easy:). The rest of the cake bar staff was not feeling the love for me when they were making 600+ butterflies and trying to find things to prop the butterfly wings against to let them dry. Or, when they were piping small pink dots all over 1,200 wings. That's when it started getting ugly, and name calling began between the staff after hours:) However, I still maintain, how could I have possibly known the fund raiser would go viral! And in the end, all the effort was worth it to see Livy and Hailey's face when they got their very own Livy's Hope cupcake, complete with 3D wings, pink polka dots and all:)
The response was just nutty right from the beginning! The very first day we announced the event, we had people calling about pre orders, which was two and half weeks before the fundraiser weekend. By the beginning of the week of the event, we had 300 pre-orders for Livy's Hope cupcakes. That means that before we had started making the increased number of 600 cupcakes, we were already in the hole because of 300 pre-orders. So you can see, our original math of making 200 Livy's Hope butterflies spread out over Fri, Sat, and Sun wasn't going to cut it. Nor was the planned increase to 600 cupcakes that we had started planning a few days earlier. Now, it appeared we were going to need to make over 2,000:)
So, Angie and I sat down again to figure out what we were going to do. First, we called Jonathon and Allison hyperventilating - it was ALL such good news and we were so excited, however we also didn't want to let anyone down by not having the needed product to support the number of people! Angie, Jonathon, Allison and I came up with a new plan, where we included ALL cupcakes in the fundraiser, instead of just the Livy's Hope cupcakes. This idea seemed to not only benefit the Scheinman family more from a proceeds perspective, but also allowed more customers the chance to donate to Livy's Hope, without the fear of running out.
Once the cupcake volume hurdle was overcome, we were able to breathe a bit easier. I think our neighbor's Dean Bank must have heard about our anxiety, as they called and offered to help us in any way t hey could. The HR Director himself came down to help us fold boxes in preparation of the event!
Then we had to staff the event. Which again, at the initial thought of selling 200 cupcakes was not a big deal at all. However, selling 2,400 cupcakes in three days requires more staff than we have available in one day... ever:) So we started calling people that Jonathon, Allison, and I grew up with trying to find folks to donate their time. I also started calling previous employees that I was hoping would have time to come help us make as many quality cupcakes as we possibly could within 3 days. Which they did... and we were so grateful!
So, that brings us to the first day of the event. Angie and I kept guessing about what the traffic patterns would be like daily for planning purposes. I kept insisting that Friday morning and afternoon wouldn't be crazy busy because people were working. I assumed that everyone would come either after work, or on Sat/Sun, so we could breathe easy during Friday morning. Well, apparently, my thought process wasn't all that unique because everybody showed up on Friday morning to MISS out on the evening and weekend rush, lol. So, again, my planning hat seemed to have a big hole in it:)
Once we got over ALLL that, it was a breeze:) Most people were so gracious if they came and the Livy's Hope cupcakes ran out, or if their favorite flavor was sold out, and we were so thankful for that. I wrote on facebook that morning that I had watched the "young Heros" video about Hailey and Livy from the Livy's Hope blog and was reminded, once again, why were doing all of it. Its a wonderful story, about 4 amazing people that deserved celebration!!! Once i remembered why were we doing all of it, the rest my anxiety passed and we had a blast. I'm so thankful that we were able to participate in such an event! It was an amazing experience that I know we will not soon forget. Thank you Livy, Hailey, Jonathon, and Allison for your inspirational message and lifestyle! Allison's friend came down and took some amazing photos of the weekend that are all posted on facebook, but I'll repost some here for those that are not facebook users:) And ps, if you fall into the catageory of non facebook user you need to accept that facebook is a part of your life and join! Its just a guess, but I think its here to stay;) Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Tracie
For those of you that came out and supported this wonderful family and cause, we genuinely appreciate it! Please know, you've participated in an event that will make a difference. For those that weren't able to make it down, please consider donating directly to Livy's Hope at www.livyshope.com, and while your there, read up on how you can make a difference with your own story of hope!!!!!!!
