BPW holds annual cake auction

Miley Barr, 8, stands with her “Under the Sea” cake at the annual Coshocton Business and Professional Women cake auction held on Saturday, Sept. 22 at Frontier Power. Jen Jones | Beacon

COSHOCTON – Each year, the Coshocton Business and Professional Women hold a cake auction to raise money for the Joan McNeely Scholarship Fund. This year’s event was held on Saturday, Sept. 22 in the Frontier Power meeting room.

“Every year, we try to give two $1,000 scholarships to working women who have decided to return to school,” said Emily McBurney, chair of the cake auction. “They might have had kids early and didn’t finish school or just want to get a higher degree. All they have to do is fill out a scholarship form and we pick two.”

“It’s exciting, as the chairperson, to see this kind of turnout,” said McBurney, about the number of cakes that were donated. Any person or business could create a cake. Many offered incentives, such as gift certificates, crafts or toys, to the winning bidder for their cake. “This year, we gave everyone a theme – Under the Sea – to see what they could come up with.” Not everyone chose to do a cake with that theme and those that did were different.

Mermaids were popular cakes, as were sea animals and even a treasure chest. This year, the BPW had a category for kids, too. “I’m shocked by how many kids’ cakes we had. And the kids want to tell you all about their cake and how they made it.  It’s a great way for them to spend time in the kitchen with mom or dad,” said McBurney.

One of the children who decorated a cake was Miley Barr. The 8-year-old has many family members in the BPW and said she wanted to do a cake to help them make more money. She excitedly described her cake to anyone who was looking at it. “It’s a vanilla cake and the sharks and fish are gummies. The blue icing that’s sticking up is waves and the fish are scattered because the waves are moving them.  There are candy seashells all the way around my cake.”  She also described how she used laffy-taffy on her cake,

“I’ve helped my mom make cakes, but this is the first one I got to decorate on my own,” said Barr. “It was fun!”

McBurney wants to encourage younger women and men to join the BPW. “When I joined, I learned so much from the older members and the networking and connections I made were so valuable. Younger generations need to take advantage of this, too.”

The Coshocton Business and Professional Women’s group is for women and men – whether they are employed or not. They meet the third Monday of the month in different locations. For more information, call 740-622-0009.

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