Written by: Carissa Leora (Sec 1-4, 2023)
“Class, remember to bring your baked goods for the bake sale tomorrow afternoon, as we will be collecting money to donate to charity,” Mrs. Tan, our form teacher, reminded us.
As I walked home with Kaitlyn, my best friend, she suddenly asked, “Hey, what are you going to bring to the bake sale tomorrow?”
I thought about it for a while before replying, “Hmm, I haven’t given it much thought yet. Probably chocolate chip cookies! I mean, they can never go wrong, right?”
Kaitlyn nodded and said, “Yeah, it sounds like a great idea! How about we go buy our ingredients together?” I nodded my head, and we both went to the nearest supermarket to buy our ingredients.
When I reached home, I immediately got started on making the cookies. I mixed the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients to make the dough and then added in the chocolate chips. I shaped the cookies into fun shapes to make them more eye-catching to the buyers. Then, I put the batch of cookies into the oven. “Who knew making cookies could be so tiring?” I muttered to myself before wiping the beads of sweat from my forehead.
The next day, it was finally time to set up the bake sale. I could smell different aromas of baked goods in the air. It smelled like heaven. I quickly set up my booth and went to Kaitlyn to see how she was doing. “Wow! Your setup looks amazing!” I said, looking amazed at how colorful her booth was.
“Thank you, yours doesn’t look bad either! I just hope we can raise enough money for charity,” Kaitlyn said in an optimistic tone.
During the bake sale, everyone’s booth was crowded with people as they wanted to try almost everything we were offering. By the end of the bake sale, all of our baked goods were completely gone, leaving only the money we had collected.
“Alright, everyone, let’s gather all the money and count it,” Mrs. Tan suggested, and the whole class chipped in to count all the money we had collected. “Wow! Great work, class! We’ve collected a total of two thousand dollars!” Mrs. Tan cheered, and everyone looked at each other, feeling a sense of achievement.
“Can we donate the money in person and see the children from the charity?” One of my classmates queried.
Mrs. Tan gave it some thought and replied with a smile, “I’ll see what we can arrange, alright?” When the class heard that, we cheered once more.
A few days passed, and we were going to the charity to meet the children and donate the money we had gathered. When we reached our destination, we were warmly welcomed by the staff of the charity and the children. We played and had fun with the children, and I felt really happy. I was over the moon.”Can I ask you something?” I asked one of the kids who looked around my age. She nodded. “What happened to your parents? How did you end up here? Not to be rude, of course.”
“Well, both of my parents were in poverty and did not have enough money to take care of me. That’s how I ended up here,” she explained with a sweet smile, which made my heart melt.
After hearing her backstory, I realized that I was really spoiled, as my parents gave me everything I wanted, and I didn’t feel grateful for anything they had done for me. It was time to leave, with a heavy heart.
On the bus ride back to school, I shared my experience with my classmates. Some told me about their experiences. Some told me funny stories about their experiences. Some told me sad stories, and some told me funny stories about their experiences.
From this experience, I have learned that we should help others in need by doing simple actions like giving food and drinks to them. I have also learned that we should be grateful for all the things we own, as the future is very unpredictable. Thus, we have to be grateful for the good things in our lives.
MJR World of Words 