We get a little sweet in February. Who can resist beautifully decorated heart shaped cookies that say "Be Mine" and "Love?"
Or delicious double chocolate heart shaped cakes covered in ganache with an edible fondant rose on top?
Or red rose cookies?
What about red and pink rosebuds on petit fours?
Cookies dipped in chocolate.
But I digress... What I really wanted to tell you about is how we delivered 51 boxes of these goodies to students at the university, at the request of their moms and dads and nanas.
Taking the orders was easy.
Boxing up the orders in cute little pink boxes garnished with glittery heart stickers was pretty easy.
Even writing up 51 cards wishing them love from their families on valentines day -- while it took some time -- was easy.
Tracking down 51 students on campus to hand deliver their boxes? A little more tricky.
We've been extremely lucky to have smart and talented people who know their way around campus working at the bakery.
This year, it was Rain's job. She took off, car bursting at the seams, about 1 in the afternoon. All the boxes had been sorted by destination, but students' individual schedules and availability quickly change priorities. One student is leaving town at 2, can we bring their box NOW? Another has class until 5, so we can't deliver until later. Deliveries can sometimes be left in the management office at off campus housing, but dorm deliveries need to be placed directly in the student's hands. And they have to meet us at the door. We cannot go up to the rooms or leave items in the lobby.
So we must call each student, or text them, to be sure they are at home. More often than not, it takes at least two phone calls or texts to reach a student. Sometimes we have to call mom, to call the student, because they aren't answering our call or returning our text. If we are lucky, they are home and we can unload their box. Sometimes they are not. Those are the students whose parents thought they would be in their dorm waiting for us, but they are at the rec center (gym), library, sorority house, a friend's apartment or dorm, or somewhere else.
The last package was delivered over seven hours later, at 8:08.
Just for fun, we ran a contest asking Facebook followers how long they thought it might take to track down 51 students.
We got almost 400 responses, ranging from "a minute" to over 24 hours, with the vast majority ranging from 1-3 hours. Seems like most thought students spend all their time either in classes or in their dorm rooms (or apartments). Or on their phones (so they get and respond to calls or text messages instantly). Eh, no.
But it was fun, and the kids were thankful for the thoughtfulness and love from their parents.
We loved being able to spread the love on campus.
And we will do it again next year.
