When honor comes with frosting on top

LACONIA — The funny thing about food is how it can convey a significance far beyond the sum of its parts. Cupcakes, for example, are baked using common household ingredients. Yet, in the hands of a skilled baker – especially one who holds well wishes for others in her heart – the finished product is as much a message of love and care as it is a sweet treat.

Such was the case for a recent “Cupcakes for a Cause” initiative, undertaken by Ginny Sanborn of Sanborn’s Auto and LaShunda Allen, baker and owner of Ooo La La Creative Cakes, both in Laconia. The initiative resulted in hundreds of cupcakes – nearly a thousand – going to residents of the New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton.

The story behind the cupcakes for the veterans is an example of how one good idea often leads to another. In this instance, the first idea came from Allen, who, shortly after moving her bakery business from her home into a retail space on Canal Street, began a unique extension of her business built around cupcakes. Large cakes are the bread-and-butter of her business, often specialty orders for weddings and parties.

Since she had to mix cake batter every day anyway, why not, she figured, fill a few cupcake tins and offer cupcakes for people walking through downtown. She charges $3 per cupcake, and keeps the cupcake money aside so that she can give it away at the end of the year. The cupcakes generated about $2,500 in each of the first two years, and the figure jumped to $5,000 last year.

“This year, thus far already, we’ve already made $5,000,” Allen said of the cupcake drive. That’s largely due to the second good idea, which came from Sanborn.

Previously, Sanborn decided to brighten the lives of the residents of the Belknap County Nursing Home by buying each one of them a cupcake, as a way to let them know that the community was thinking of them even though pandemic restrictions kept visitors away. She then thought of the Veterans Home, which is coming off a traumatic 2020 in which the coronavirus swept through and claimed the lives of 36 residents.

At the time she started the effort, there were 96 residents at the Veterans Home, located in Tilton. Rather than buy them all herself, Sanborn decided to invite the public to join in. She advertised the effort, inviting people to sponsor a cupcake or two – and, by the way, their dollars would also be paid forward to local charities.

The response was several times beyond the goal of the two women. By the time National Vietnam War Veterans Day arrived on March 29 – the deadline by which they hoped to have enough for 96 cupcakes – they had sponsorships for more than 800. They delivered a batch of 250, and plan to return at least twice more this year with the balance.

“The outpouring of support was just crazy,” said Sanborn.

Allen said she was also taken aback by the response – not just the volume of cupcake sponsorships, but the stories that came along with them. She said it gave her an insight that she didn’t have before.

“I don’t have anybody in my family that has served,” Allen said. For her, military service, and the sacrifices that that go along with it, had always been an abstract concept. She associated service with honor, but also with the negative outcomes that are visible to the public: Homelessness, illness, insufficient care provided by the government. “That was my view of it,” she said. The people who came in to join the cupcake drive helped fill in that picture, she said.

“It changed my whole perspective,” Allen said. “This is a great country, even though it has many, many flaws, there are people who say, I would go out there and die, lose my life… because I want the next generation of kids to come up and be that much freer to live their lives. It really impacted me in a way that I didn’t know cupcakes could be a bridge for that.”

Many of the stories, usually from family members who served, registered emotionally with Allen. One story in particular underlined why she donates the time and ingredients for her years-running cupcake venture. It happened on a day when Allen was having a rough day, one when she was asking herself if she had taken the right path in life, if she was meant to be baking cakes in Laconia, when a woman walked into the store.

“She spoke of her daughter, who served and ended up committing suicide,” Allen said. The woman responded by establishing a charity in her daughter’s name, writing books and advocating for suicide prevention. “She came down and told me the story about her daughter, she wanted to honor her, she loved to make cupcakes. She said as soon as she saw the ad, ‘I knew this was what my daughter would want me to do,’”

“She poured her heart out to me,” Allen said. “She kept saying, I’m so glad you’re here, I can’t even believe how perfect this is.”

For Allen, who is guided by Christian faith, it was a validation that she was, indeed, in the right place.

“Because I have a heart for so many things, I was questioning why I was here, why I was in Laconia. When she came in and showed me her book, I just started crying. Cupcakes are cupcakes, people buy them all the time,” Allen said. “For someone to have so much joy over what has been given to them, or what they can do to be part of the giving, it far outweighs any money that I could make. It gives me a purpose, it gives me a reason why I have to be here. It gives a point to it all.”

Allen said she considers herself “blessed” that Sanborn brought the idea to her, and that so many others responded. Their generosity will benefit the Veterans Home residents, the charities that Allen will donate the proceeds to, and their stories have enriched Allen in the process.

“I want to thank everybody for their service. I want to thank each and every person who came out to be a part of that to bless not just the veterans but the causes that we give to,” Allen said.