Friday, April 21^st, I was giving cupcakes away to my fellow students. Yes, I did say giving them away. I didn’t charge a price for my desserts; the only thing that I asked for in return was a simple hug. Why, you ask? The reason for my doing this was because here at Lindsey Wilson College, we had a recent death that had occurred on campus. Her death pricked my heart in a terribly painful way, as it did many others. As the entire campus joined hands and went to the Lord together in prayer, I was wondering what I could do to make this dark situation a little bit brighter for not only myself, but for my fellow students also. It was in that moment that “Cupcakes and Hugs” was born.

I made a grand total of 48 cupcakes that Thursday night. I was in charge of baking, my grandmother appointed herself to be the one who was in charge of putting on the frosting, and my younger cousin, Molly, was in charge of adding the sprinkles to the top of each cupcake. They truly wanted to help me, even though the impact of the tragedy had seemingly nothing to do with them; that warmed my heart to a new level. As I began to set up my cupcakes on the front porch of the SUB on Lindsey Wilson’s campus, a multitude of people offered to help me, whether it be by helping me set things up, by being the first recipients of the cupcakes and giving me my first hugs of the day, or by spreading the word of my idea by mouth or social media. I want to thank those people, along with my family, from the bottom of my heart. My idea wouldn’t have gotten an inch off the ground if it hadn’t been for your help.

While trading cupcakes for hugs, I was blessed to meet an abundance of diverse yet amazing individuals. My first encounter was with an abundance of what I assumed was her close friends. They all lined up to give me a hug, and they each took a cupcake at sat with me to keep me company while they ate. They began to talk about her and the wonderful memories that they had of her. While this was painful for me to witness and brought tears to my eyes, it was comforting to know that this group of people wanted to focus on the positivity and fond memories, rather than any regrets, “what-could’ve-beens”, or negativity that could’ve came from this situation. After they left, I got the pleasure of finally meeting Ms. Sabine Eastham, the coordinator of the international student program at Lindsey Wilson College. She was so very nice; I can see why she is the coordinator of the ISP at LWC. I also got the pleasure of meeting two very sweet girls from South Korea. They hugged me like they have known me for years, and I immediately wanted to be good friends with them. I also got to meet two young men from what I believe to be South America, and even though one had to be a Spanish-to-English translator for me during some parts of the conversation, the three of us shared a good conversation over cupcakes, and one even came back for a second hug after his cupcake had been eaten and he had gone to class. I also got to meet a friendly man who was a cancer patient, and even though you could tell that he was going through some very difficult times with his illness, he told me that the key to living for him was to keep his faith in God and to stay positive. I couldn’t agree more. The dean of students, Mr. Chris Schmidt, came to visit me, and I even got a hug from my Writing Studies II professor from last year, Dr. Wais-Hennen. Not only was I able to meet many people and gain many friendships from this endeavor of mine, I was able to spread love to a multitude of all people-and that was my ultimate goal from the very beginning.

While I am thankful for everyone who has stopped to talk to me about the “Cupcakes and Hugs” movement, the attention was not at all the reason behind it. I simply wanted to spread love to a campus who needed it more than they ever had, and to remind people that, even through life’s darkest times there’s always a little sweetness to be found.

1 John 4:7-“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”