Westfield Intermediate Student Is On a Mission
Writer / Peyton Gigante
Photography Provided
How many sixth-grade students do you know who want to help end world hunger and provide for their community?
For Westfield Intermediate School student Mia Blackwell, it was something she felt she needed to do.
Her mission included baking 504 cookies for the Dotted Line Divas pantry, which ultimately provided $481 in proceeds and a $55 value in laundry soap and body wash.
After watching an informational video in her language arts class about world hunger, Blackwell decided to do something to contribute to those in need of resources.
“I decided to do it because I had to do something,” says Blackwell, an 11-year-old Westfield native. “I don’t like sitting around knowing that’s happening.”
Together with her mother Carma, this unstoppable duo baked away in their home kitchen for three to four weeks.
“We made sugar, chocolate, oatmeal spice, snickerdoodle, and chocolate crinkle cookies,” Blackwell says, adding that her favorites are chocolate crinkle and snickerdoodle.
Priced at $7 per dozen and $4 per half dozen, Blackwell sold five different kinds of cookies to 24 people.
To market her bake sale, she wrote a letter stating what she was doing and why it was important. Then it was emailed and texted to friends and family, and eventually the event details were spread by word of mouth.
“We delivered them directly to people’s houses, and even mailed some,” Blackwell says.
The staff members at Dotted Line Divas do extreme couponing to help those in need of everyday hygiene and personal care items. 
This was not the first time Blackwell has donated to the organization. Three years prior, she donated her allowance to buy a bag of items for a homeless man.
“We did a ton of hand washing, and made sure we wore our masks the entire time we were preparing and cooking,” Carma says. “We were very careful about how much we were doing without hands and cleaning the kitchen a bunch.”
Though she spent a lot of time in the kitchen throughout the last few months, baking is not the only activity Blackwell enjoys.
“I play sports,” she says. “I play soccer and I’m going to try to play basketball.”
However, she does do a lot of baking.
“It’s not so much that I can’t leave the kitchen,” she says of her baking hobby.
Even so, her baking is inspiring, and the love that she poured into every one of her 504 cookies is something to be admired.
“I’ve learned that even though it doesn’t sound like you’re doing a bunch, in the end, you’re doing more than you can put into words,” Blackwell says.
In a time when positivity is in short supply, acts of kindness like the Blackwells’ bake sale are helping to provide for local families – especially during these winter months.
“I hope my bake sale inspires people,” Blackwell says.
To learn more about the Dotted Line Divas nonprofit organization, you can visit their website at dottedlinedivas.org.
