National Cupcake Day 4 Kids with Cancer took place in 74 malls across South Africa to raise funds for Cupcakes of Hope, a non-profit organisation that supplies assistance and support to the families and children who are diagnosed with cancer. Nationally, R2.3m was raised on Saturday, September 28.
In the Lowveld, the 12th National Cupcake Day 4 Kids with Cancer was celebrated at i’langa Mall and at The Grove SUPERSPAR to create awareness about childhood cancer.
The Cupcakes of Hope Mpumalanga representative, Jacki van Zyl, said they received great support this year. “We have a wonderful group of volunteers whom we call Cupcake Angels, who baked the cupcakes for us that we sold to raise funds for our cause,” she said excitedly. “Since 2020, the number of cancer patients supported through this organisation quadrupled. In July 2024, over 220 young cancer patients received financial assistance, the youngest being only 10 months old.”
This year with National Cupcake Day 4 Kids falling on the same day as the Springboks’ green and gold frenzy in Mbombela, Cupcakes of Hope took advantage of the hype and created a 3.6m x 2.4m South African Springbok flag mosaic made with 3 456 cupcakes.
Van Zyl said the amazing idea behind this project was prompted during the end of last year’s National Cupcake Day 4 Kids with Cancer. “We had some cupcakes left over that I dropped off at NPO Children in Distress. It was then I learnt they feed close to 3 500 kids daily at their various centres. I vowed to make a plan to raise funds and awareness for childhood cancer and to treat each of these kids to a cupcake. With the Boks in town this year, I remembered the huge mosaic that was done in 2015 with Cupcakes of Hope and a SPAR in KwaZulu-Natal. This consisted of 33 600 cupcakes and it made it into the 2017 Guinness Book of World Records. I decided to try this here, but on a much smaller scale,” she said.
“I approached some incredible businesses in the Lowveld that heeded to the call to support this, and enabled us to get the structure made and pay for 3 456 cupcakes to be baked. A group of my friends came to help with the icing at The Grove SUPERSPAR on the Friday.” It took about seven hours to complete the mosaic, which was displayed inside the store between the entrance and exit. “The response we got for the mosaic was just incredible. The vibe while we were icing it and putting it together until the next day with the Springbok gees is difficult to explain, but I can say it was one of the best days of my life.
“Springboks Gerhard Steenekamp and Breyton Paulse even popped in for a photo with the mosaic! It was so rewarding to see our dream become a reality and raise funds and awareness for Cupcakes 4 Kids Cancer knowing that 3 456 special kids would each receive their own cupcake on Monday morning.
“I cannot thank The Grove SUPERSPAR and Adrian and his team enough as they helped us make this all happen in a week. It was a huge undertaking for the bakery to bake all these cupcakes on top of their day-to-day bakery requirements. Thank you to every sponsor that heeded to our call.”
