Curing cancer one cookie at a time since 2012
In the winter of 2012, at age 9, Annie went with her mother Jodi to help pack goodie bags for the town-wide Cycle for Survival event. Dressed in her leotard and tights for dance class later that day, with Annie’s friendly nature she started talking with the woman sitting on the floor next to her, who asked where she danced. Annie replied that she went to Michele’s Dance Studio, and the woman stated “that’s where my daughter danced,” and the two of them started chatting and became fast friends. It turns out that woman was Livingston resident Sandy Goodman, and her daughter was Jen Goodman Linn, the founder of Cycle for Survival, who had recently passed away after her battle with cancer.
Annie was so inspired and motivated by Jen’s story and the community Cycle for Survival event that she wanted to do her part to raise money for this important cause. Not old enough to join the ride herself yet, she planned on holding a lemonade stand to raise money, but somehow life got in the way and the lemonade stand never happened. Suddenly, it was January, and she reminded us that she needed to have her lemonade stand in the upcoming weeks. After a few discussions about how lemonade might not be the biggest seller in January, she settled on a hot chocolate stand, and decided to bake some chocolate chip cookies to sell as well. They weren’t just any ordinary cookies – they were Annie’s favorites, a triple chocolate chip cookie recipe that we had recently discovered and tweaked into the perfect cookie recipe. Annie set up a table outside our house and quickly sold out of cookies, and we were incredibly proud that she raised over $500 for Cycle for Survival. The following year, we started letting our friends know that Annie was planning another hot chocolate stand, and people started calling to reserve cookies in advance. We quickly realized that we didn’t have to stand in the cold and sell hot chocolate – the cookies were the main attraction! Thus began Annie’s famous annual cookie sale, and in the coming years she raised over $10,000 for Cycle for Survival, one cookie at a time.
In January 2020, as we were preparing for what we referred to as “cookie season,” the unthinkable happened – Annie was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Now, rather than just fundraising for research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, she became a patient there as well. Once again our community stepped up to help, with friends all over town helping to bake the cookies. Over $10,000 was raised at that time, and we were blown away by the incredible support. Annie also began baking cookies to bring to her incredible doctors and nurses, and they quickly became a fan-favorite across the pediatric floor at MSKCC.
We are now partnering with friends and family across the country to hold cookie sales in their communities, to share Annie’s Famous Cookies with as many people as possible, and to raise money so that we can beat rare cancers forever! Reach out to Jodi (jodieisner@annietober365.com) if you are interested in hosting a cookie sale in your community!