A combined passion for animals and culinary is what fuels Fort Frances local Martine Calomino to repeatedly put together bake sales that fundraise for cats and dogs in the district.
The Town of Fort Frances is home to two distinct organizations aimed at finding permanent homes for animals, Best for Kitty and RuffCue, which focus their efforts on the fostering and adoption of cats and dogs, respectively. Both parties are not-for-profit and fundraising efforts assist in keeping them operating.
“The more that I can sell, the more money goes to the animals,” Calomino, who held this year’s bake sale on Monday, said.
“I started with I think just over 600 cupcakes. My goal was to have 700 but I was so gosh darn tired by the end of all my baking that I just couldn’t squeeze out that extra 100.”
Calomino organizes the bake sales herself, doing the majority of the baking on her own. She uses the atrium of Seven Generations Education Institute, where she works as a culinary assistant, to sell her baked goods.
This year and last, Calomino had assistance from Chantal Derendorf, owner of Batter and Cream Baking Company, a Fort Frances business specializing in gourmet cupcakes. Derendorf, who made 10 dozen cupcakes for the bake sale, said she enjoys opportunities to utilize her skills when they can help out community efforts like this.
“You can’t go wrong with helping out cats and dogs,” Derendorf said.
“I like helping out and being involved in the community, so I try to donate and get involved wherever I can. I’m a cupcake business and it was a cupcake sale. It just made sense.”
Calomino said she also received help from fellow Seven Generations staff member Caitlyn Morrison, the Institute’s wellness coordinator. Morrison joined alongside Calomino for the actual sale on the day of, where they quickly went through the supply of cupcakes much quicker than expected. The bake sale, which was scheduled to run until 3 p.m., had to cut the time short before noon due to selling out.
“Previous years, I started at nine o’clock, and I had a huge rush, but I would get all the way until about 2:30,” Calomino said. “This year, it was about 11:30 that I was completely sold out. That’s one of the reasons I’m beating myself up that I didn’t make that extra 100.”
Calomino said that 100 per cent of proceeds from the bake sale go directly to the adoption organizations. “I don’t take a penny, I don’t take anything,” she said. “I’d feel like a bad person if I did. It’s not for me, I work her at Seven Gens and have a job.”
Best for Kitty’s Joan Foley said donations from the community are vital in keeping their organization functioning and finding homes for cats. “We wouldn’t exist without our community support,” she said.
“The community donates food and money to us, and that’s how we operate,” Foley said. “We take in a lot of cats and get them fully vetted. They’re vaccinated, spayed, neutered and microchipped. If they need medical help, which some do, we’ll get that done as well. We have very high vet bills and go through lots of food and litter so without our community support, we wouldn’t be able to do any of that.”
After the success and quick sellout of her supplies on Monday, Calomino is now considering upping the ante with her fundraising. She said she’s now debating starting a cookie sale at some point in the fall months and continuing cupcakes as her February sale.
