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EAST WINDSOR: Dairy Queen hosting tasty fundraiser

Columbus girl part of Operation Cupcake team

Operation Cupcake has the support of another sweet treat this summer — ice cream.
Dairy Queen is teaming up with the two girls — Nina Burden, 12, of Columbus, and Emma Bowers, 12, of Burlington — behind the baking operation that helps people in need.
"We will be donating a percentage of our sales at that time in support of their efforts," said Dairy Queen owner George Vardakis. "The girls will be there giving out cupcakes and letting the community know about their efforts."
The event will be held from 3-7 p.m. Sept. 7 at the Dairy Queen located at 545 Route 130 North in East Windsor.
"We will hopefully have some live music during that time as well," Mr. Vardakis said. "We chose to host this event is support of Operation Cupcake because I am truly inspired by what these two young girls have been doing to help their community."
Operation Cupcake’s mission is to impact people’s lives and make a difference with simple acts of kindness. Emma and her best friend Nina started the nonprofit business in November 2012 a few days after Superstorm Sandy struck. They used their love for baking to help support victims and relief workers.
"It started because we love to bake and as kids we couldn’t go and help rebuild a house but we could bring a smile with a cupcake," said Nina. "After Superstorm Sandy there was a shelter right by our house and we decided to bring cupcakes. We called and asked how many people were there and they said 400. As we were walking out after dropping those cupcakes off, we got another order for 500 cupcakes for the troops being deployed to the Barrier Island."
Operation Cupcake is a now a nonprofit organization that delivers homemade cupcakes directly to families and individuals in need. In its first year of operation, they delivered over 20,000 cupcakes to support food pantries, food drives, soup kitchens, fundraisers, and the outreach efforts of volunteer organizations and other nonprofit organizations across New Jersey.
"When we started we were just delivering cupcakes to shelters, utility workers, the troops and families working on their homes," she said. "Very quickly we started to go and people were making donations to our PayPal account."
The duo also started fundraising and started to help people in other ways.
"We have also held fundraisers to donate appliances, furniture, utensils, and other household goods to New Jersey residents in need," Emma said. "We bought refrigerators, microwaves, crock pots, coffeepots, recliners, and so much more. Now that the shore is getting revived and there is less of need down there we started taking referrals or just helping people we hear about."
During Christmastime, they heard of a young woman who was pregnant and found out she had a stage four brain tumor.
"She had spent the majority of her pregnancy in the hospital and really was not prepared for the baby," she said. "When we heard about her we decided to buy her a stroller and car seat and some baby goods. We also bought her a video camera so that she could record messages to the baby to have should anything happen. She was already losing her memory and speech."
Last week, they donated book bags to Cradles to Crayons and diapers to the Laurel House located in Norristown, Pennsylvania, while attending a Kiwanis Convention and also donated an iPad to an autistic 3-year-old boy through the organization One Simple Wish.
Operation Cupcake is also a part of the Hometown Heroes network.
To date, they have delivered over 30,000 cupcakes and have raised over $10,000 in donations.
For the girls, the highlight of their venture is "to see the smile on a person’s face when we bring them cupcakes."
"It feels good to know we are helping others," Nina said.
For more information about Operation Cupcake or how to donate, visit www.operationcupcakenj.com.