Paige's Cupcakes For Cancer

Last updated on Friday, May 1, 2015

(MITCHELL) - Paige Miller is a fifth grader at Burris Elementary School and has created a charity - Paige’s Cupcakes for Cancer.

The vanilla cupcakes with strawberry frosting are $20 a dozen and all proceeds go to the Deaconess Hospital Foundation Cancer Center in Evansville. They will go on sale today.

Paige has also designed and is selling t-shirts. This years design will be a black t-shirt with a neon pink Cupcakes for Cancer logo. Shirts cost $12.

To order cupcakes or a t-shirt visit Paige's Cupcakes For Cancer on Facebook.

Cash donations can be made at Fifth Third Bank in Orleans.

The 10-year-old has raised nearly $10,000 to help those battling the deadly disease, last year she presented them a check for $3,650 she is hoping to raise $5,000 this year.

Paige began her quest to help those with cancer in second grade.

"She started out digging up little seeds on the playground to grow plants to sell, to make money for people with cancer," says Crystal Miller, Paige's mother "We explained that she was actually digging up weeds and that wouldn't work. Then she thought she was going to make makeup and we had to tell her that wasn't going to work; there's a lot more to that. And then she said, 'Fine, if you're not going to take me, I'm just going to walk the money to the hospital myself.'"

That was when Crystal and her husband, Mike, knew Paige was serious. When Crystal put a status on her Facebook about how much Paige wanted to help, a friend commented, and the idea of baking cupcakes was born.

Crystal created the Paige's Cupcakes for Cancer Facebook page and Paige, with help from her family, started baking vanilla cupcakes from scratch complete with pink, strawberry-flavored icing. Last year they made around 200 dozen.

"That was thousands of cupcakes. When we first started this, we thought this will just be a cute little thing and family and friends will order," says Crystal. "We were expecting maybe 20 dozen (orders). And the first year (2012) she raised $1,200. Last year, her goal was to double that and she ended up tripling it."

The only thing Paige keeps is the cardboard check afterward and a feeling of "excited happiness."

This year Paige will face a new challenge because she has moved from Evansville to Mitchell.

"We are waiting to hear back from Mitchell High School officials," says Crystal. "We are hoping to be able to use the home economics room to do a cupcake blitz and put out about 50 dozen in a 4 hour period. We only need to use the facility for a night or two. The rest we can make at home."

Anyone wishing to volunteer a place they can make the cupcakes can message Crystal on their Facebook page Paige's Cupcakes for Cancer.

Last year teachers and staff at Caze Elementary School, where Paige went to school, stayed one night, four hours after school to help bake cupcakes.

Teachers also can purchase a Paige's Cupcakes for Cancer T-shirt and wear them on the first school day in May, helping raise awareness.

"She's a great kid," wrote her teacher Sara Russell in an email. " Super sweet and an overall role model for young girls her age."

Others have noticed Paige's enthusiasm and dedication at fighting this deadly disease.

Paige received two nominations for the 2014 Kohl's Cares Scholarship Program award, which is a chance at a $10,000 scholarship.

She won the Sam Featherstone Youth Award through Leadership Evansville at the 2013 Celebration of Leadership awards, and was asked to return this year as a presenter. She was given the 2013 Pam Rausch Spirit Award from Deaconess Hospital, the T-Green Perseverance Award from the Evansville Area Council PTA, and the Indianapolis Colts honored her with the team's 2013 Student All-Star Award, giving her $500 to help with her project.

"Every little bit helps," says Crystal. "Even if they can't give money, they can always do something to help someone. It doesn't matter the age, anyone can help somebody."

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