In January of 2003, our group of friends and family gathered together to try and come up with a way to raise money for our friend, Patrick Bernsen, who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Our goal was to raise enough money to send Patrick on a trip while he was still well enough to enjoy traveling.

We were scrambling for ideas. We considered holding a car wash but it was January and the weather in St. Louis wouldn’t allow that. We thought about having a bake sale outside of a local retail store but it didn’t seem BIG enough. We didn’t have a lot of time and we needed something fast! Finally, a member of our group came up with the idea of selling the chocolate-covered strawberries that she traditionally made for friends and family as gifts at Valentine’s Day each year.

We created a flyer, posted it in various office buildings where we all worked, tested out different kinds of chocolate (that part was a blast!), and started dipping! We were able to sell 286 orders and we raised enough money to send Patrick on a trip before he passed away November of 2003.

In January of 2004, we started receiving calls from the people who purchased our product in 2003. After about the 20th call, we decided that maybe we should do this fundraiser again, only this time we could donate the money to an organization that was close to Patrick’s heart.

So, inspired by Patrick’s love for animals, we decided to do it again and give all of the proceeds to a local animal rescue group that really needed it.

This tradition is still going on today and our group still gathers together once a year to unselfishly give their time and effort to help animals.

It’s all for A Berry Good Cause!