Someone Cares: Hearts for History

A woman uses her baking skills to help fund a sprucing-up of her community’s historic cemetary.

An artist's rendering of Shirley's heart-shaped cakes

I live across the road from a small country cemetery. Once upon a time, my late husband had been the cemetery board secretary. My neighbor’s late husband had been the treasurer. More recently, the cemetery president had had to manage maintenance all on his own with an empty bank account.

I asked the Lord what I could do to help. Bake your little heart cakes was the answer. That made sense. I am a semiretired cake decorator. The next morning, I made a batch of personal-size, heart-shaped cakes and decorated each one with buttercream roses.

I sold the cakes and made more than $700 in four months. I also volunteered to be the cemetery’s new treasurer. With the money from the cakes, we were able to get the grass cut and the gravestones leveled. This cemetery has been part of our community for more than one hundred years—it feels good to honor our history.

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