21 000 cupcakes in aid of needy children

The Raising Aidan Foundation got off to a sweet start as it officially launched on 17 February with an attempt to create the largest pull-apart cake on record.

Bryanston resident Melissa Botha, mother to Aidan (8), started the foundation in honour of her son who suffers from the incredibly rare genetic disorder, Costello Syndrome.

Aidan is the second South African to ever receive the diagnosis, and keeping him healthy and medically cared for costs thousands every month.

Botha began selling microwave cupcake mix in 2011 to cover the costs, and through her own journey she saw the need to help others.

“To me, today’s launch is all about raising awareness,” Botha told Fourways Review during the launch. “The Raising Aidan Foundation was started because I really wanted to help families with special needs children in any way that I could.

“A huge problem that these families face is financial – whether it is paying for scans or therapy or whatever… I know of one child who needs a specific medical test, but it will cost about R20 000. How is his family supposed to manage that? That’s where the foundation comes in.”

To raise the funds needed to launch their foundation, Botha came up with a novel idea: the foundation would host a special event where Raising Aidan Cupcake mix would be used to create the largest cupcake mosaic and enter the Guinness World Records in support of both the foundation and cancer organisations. The attempt was held at the Hoërskool Jeugland grounds in Kempton Park.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough cupcakes for that [attempt], so we decided to create the world’s biggest pull-apart cake instead.”

Her foundation joined forces with the Childhood Cancer Foundation South Africa, Hoërskool Jeugland and a number of local businesses. The day was also dedicated to Janika Viljoen-van Schoor, a girl who eventually lost her battle with cancer.

Estelle van Schoor, Janika’s godmother and one of the event’s co-ordinators, helped organise participation from Hoërskool Jeugland children.

“About 200 kids [from this school] are here helping out today,” Van Schoor said, speaking about the volunteers who iced and arranged cupcakes to make up the cake. “I don’t believe enough people are aware of how a child is affected by cancer.

“And I also think they don’t understand how hard it is for the family too, both financially and emotionally.”

Schoolchildren from across Johannesburg worked for hours organising and icing cupcakes in rainbow colours for the final product. At about 1.30pm, all the cupcakes were placed together in a rainbow design as part of the attempt. A whopping 21 000 cupcakes in total were produced for the day, and more than 19 000 were eventually used in the final design.

Lori Wessels, who helped organise the event said, “This launch happened only because of huge community involvement and for that we are so thankful.

“Now that the pull-apart cake has been finalised, the individual cupcakes are on sale to the public. You can buy them for yourself or for an organisation.”

Details: www.raisingaidan.co.za; the Raising Aidan Facebook page, melissa@raisingaidan.co.za