Donations were never so sweet

By KATHLEEN EDGECOMB

When Bridget Reed bought the Ivoryton Tavern in 2019, after working there for seven years, she  gained a restaurant with loyal customers who have helped her and her daughters raise thousands of dollars to support the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation.

“They’re family now, not just customers,” Reed said of the regulars who bought cupcakes during the month of October to raise money for breast cancer research. In 2022, Reed baked and sold thousands of cupcakes for the Brodeur Foundation, walked in the half marathon with Team Strong Enough, and donated $6,500 to TBBCF. She is also a 2022 Emerald Sponsor, donating $2,500 to help cover the foundation’s operational expenses.

She said the women who participate in the annual marathon fundraiser, those who volunteer, and the people that run the organization are an inspiration.

“It’s so heartwarming,” she said, watching walkers honor breast cancer survivors and those who died from the disease. “It’s sad but it’s nice. They are all strong, courageous women.”

“Cupcakes for Elaine” began in 2020 when Reed wanted to do something to honor her mother, Charlotte Elaine Whittby. She said her mother fought three bouts of breast cancer during her lifetime, the first when she was in her 30s. She died in early 2020 at age 65.

“She was all about the pink,” Reed said of her mother, who lived in North Carolina.

Reed said her daughters, 27-year-old Hailey and 25-year-old April, wanted to do something to honor their grandmother. Since Reed went to Johnson & Wales University and was a baker for about 10 years, cupcakes seemed like a natural choice.

In October 2020, at the height of the pandemic, while the tavern was surviving mostly on take-out, Reed was in the kitchen every morning baking cupcakes. She sold them for $3 apiece, raising $3,000 for the foundation. The next October, she made more cupcakes and she and her daughters walked the half marathon, raising $5,000.

This year, she upped the price to $5 for each jumbo cupcake, walked the half marathon and held weekly raffles in the tavern, collecting donations from some of her distributors like coolers, Jameson whiskey hats and sweatshirts and bottles of spirits. They brought in
$6,500.

“This community is so supportive. Whatever kookie idea I come up with they say, let’s support Bridget,” she said. “They are the driving force.”

Reed admits it was exhausting getting up at 5 a.m. before her regular kitchen staff arrived, to make the day’s batch of cupcakes and then work all day. But she said she plans to continue the fundraiser next year and support the Brodeur foundation.

“I like to think my mother would be proud of us,” she said.