PORTLAND, Tenn. (WTVF) — A 12-year-old in Portland is turning out to be quite the baker. What she's doing is so much more than making cakes. Her impact for a good cause is nothing short of staggering.
"They have a lot of these after Christmas," smiled 12-year-old Brooklyn as she quickly unwrapped Hershey's chocolate bars.
When Brooklyn makes a cake, there's this voice always in her mind.
"You grate your Hershey's bars, and you put your Hershey's bars on the top and on the sides of the cake," family friend Parnell Suttle said in a recorded video from last year.
"Were those cakes pretty good?" I asked Brooklyn about Parnell's famous cakes.
"They were amazing!" she said. "Since I can remember, I've known [Parnell]."
Brooklyn's grandmother, Rita Taylor, does shows at Temple Theatre in Portland. They're called The Stayin' Alive Divas, and the shows raise money for the American Cancer Society. Rita's friend Parnell would raise thousands for the cause herself, auctioning those wonderful cakes.
"She was like family," Brooklyn continued, talking about Parnell.
Parnell died last year. She was 98. In the months before she died, she told Brooklyn something.
"She wanted the cakes to continue to be made," Brooklyn said.
Parnell gave Brooklyn her cake recipes.
For Grandmother Rita's show this year, it was Brooklyn making and auctioning two cakes for the American Cancer Society.
"When I was making the cakes, I asked my dad, 'Do you think the cakes will even make $100?'" Brooklyn remembered.
Oh, she did a little better than that.
"Both of the cakes made $7,050 in total," she said.
"That's not bad for two cakes!" I told her.
"Yeah!"
"She made it messy!" Brooklyn continued, putting icing on another cake. "She'd have the spatula and be giving it all these little poofs on top. That's how I try to make mine. Like Parnell's. It just isn't Parnell's when it's all flat."
Living and giving like Parnell is the way to go for Brooklyn, the new baker behind a perfect Parnell Hershey's chocolate cake.
We also want to mention the good work of Brooklyn's grandmother, Rita. Her show this year at the Temple Theatre ended up raising $36,000 for the American Cancer Society.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
Cole is a person I think everyone should meet. After saving his sister's life, he's in a fight for his own. And yet he lives so joyfully, performing on stage and continuing to do what he loves. His family's story will both inspire you and make you reflect on your own. Click if you want to watch one of the most impressive young men in action, determined to write the lines of his own story despite the circumstances.
-Rebecca Schleicher
