11/14/2019
In 2011, Sweet Blessings began with a calling to convey the love of Christ, a heart for those in need and a desire to be obedient to His will. God placed this longing in the heart of Ashley Gann and then used her to share that passion with others. Since that time, more than 14,000 extraordinary birthday cakes have been delivered to children in need. At a time when a child might feel different, forgotten or alone, the love of Christ showed up in the form of a cake on his or her special day. But, as Ashley has said so many times, “it is not about the cake”. The cakes can be counted, but the number of lives changed cannot. The acts of love to be paid forward in generations to come, the differences that will be made in the world because of a difference made in the life of child and the number of people who will come to know the Lord through the compassion, love and dedication of all involved in Sweet Blessings can never be counted. That is, until we stand before the Lord himself and He provides us with the sweet blessing of seeing the results.
Since 2011, God has blessed Sweet Blessings beyond measure. As production demands and financial support grew, it became apparent that we could not continue to operate in our current manner. Keeping up with production demands and professional relations quickly began to be too much for Ashley to handle alone. The financial and business portions of the organization began to reach far beyond what could be managed by volunteers alone. For those reasons, we began to seek God’s direction and look for alternatives to reduce pressure points on the organization. First, we sought to find a new Executive Director in order to reduce some of the demands on Ashley. But we quickly learned that you can hire skills and experience, but you can’t hire passion to advance the mission at the standard that has already been set. Next, we sought to merge with a Christ centered, non-profit organization that shared our passion and possessed the resources to take Sweet Blessings to the next level. While we met with several organizations that are involved in doing some great things for the Lord, we could not find the perfect match or the peace that we were seeking in order to move forward with a merger.
After 3 years of prayer and diligently seeking the Lord’s direction, we have found the peace that we have been looking for. We have come to know that God has prepared us to move in other directions in order to share His love through other ministries. Therefore, on behalf of Ashley and our board of directors, I am announcing that Sweet Blessings will close in the same manner that it started, with a calling to convey the love of Christ, a heart for those in need and a desire to be obedient to His will. Just as the lives of children and families have been changed, the lives of everyone involved with Sweet Blessings have been changed. We don’t know what the Lord has in store for each of us in the future, but we do know that because of our involvement with Sweet Blessings our hearts have grown softer and our faith has grown stronger. We will continue to bless children with extraordinary birthday cakes through June of 2020. During that time, we will prayerfully choose for reinvestment of Sweet Blessings funds in another Christ centered non-profit in accordance with His calling to be good stewards of what the Lord has so graciously provided
Because of your involvement with Sweet Blessings, you ARE a SWEET BLESSING yourself. Never let what God has placed inside of you die! Continue to serve Him by seeking out ways to convey the love of Christ through the simplest of things. Remember, it is not about the cake…and it is not about us. It’s about making people feel loved, important and included. It’s about sharing the love of Christ through your actions. It’s about making our lives more about others and less about ourselves.
Thank you for sharing in our passion for the past eight years. Let the change that’s been made in you continue to be a Sweet Blessing to others by sharing the love of the Lord in unique and special ways.
Sweet Blessings,
Douglas M. Graham
Chairman of the Board
Sweet Blessings
