In September of 2012, a bake sale fundraiser for the Go Bo! Foundation was being planned in Bo’s hometown of Sister Bay, Wisconsin, population 886. The fundraiser would be held during Fall Fest, the largest and final festival of the tourist season held in the little resort town. A cookier posted an appeal on Facebook; telling Bo’s story and asking other cookiers if they would be willing to donate decorated cookies to the bake sale. Bo’s message resonated and the response from the cookie community was amazing! Cookiers from around the United States, and around the WORLD, generously and enthusiastically responded with their support. Soon, thousands of intricately detailed decorated cookies started arriving in Bo’s hometown.

A small, yet extremely dedicated group of volunteers unwrapped each cookie, boxed them into gift boxes and sold them at the bake sale. That first year, $5,000 was raised through decorated cookies!

Due to the overwhelming success of the 2012 bake sale, it was decided to make the bake sale an annual event, keeping the “Bo-mentum” going and Bo’s message alive!

Fall 2020 just wasn’t the same without all of us coming together as a community; however, we all went above and beyond and proved that tough cookies don’t crumble! We didn’t let a stinking pandemic stop us from carrying on Bo’s message and fighting for those affected by childhood cancer. We just had to be innovative! With your help, we were able to keep the “Bo-mentum” and were honored to raise a whopping $37,489 through our “Bucks for Bo” campaign in lieu of our sweet little bake sale.

Due to the compassionate hearts and generous spirit of this incredible cookie community, the Go Bo! Foundation Bake Sale has been honored to raise an accumulative total of $300,000! The funds raised in the bake sale allowed the Go Bo! Foundation to proudly present a check for $25,000 on behalf of cookiers around the world to the MACC Fund (Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer) for the seventh year in a row! This donation supports the High-Risk Hematologic Malignancy Program at Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee, WI. The program is aimed at understanding leukemia biology with the goal of finding innovative ways to treat these extremely intransigent cancers.

You only live once. Make it count. A lesson Bo taught all of us cookiers well.