Maple Grove Baker Offers Sweet Deal for Alzheimer’s Research
A Maple Grove woman is baking cookies to raise funds for Alzheimer’s research. For her, this cause is personal.
Laurie Sadowski runs a small bakery business, Laurie’s Sweet Sensations, out of her home. She started it five years ago after fielding lots of requests for specialty cakes from loved ones.
“It’s just really fun to be able to be allowed to be creative,” Sadowski said.
Baking is a love she inherited from her dad, Wally Dunn. He was a chemistry teacher, so baking was the perfect transition. Though Sadowski said he didn’t always get his infamous peanut butter cookie recipe quite right. Typically, people flatten those cookies down because the dough is so dense.
“The very first time he made them, he forgot to smush them down with a fork. And so they were all rounded,” Laurie said. “Us kids were like ‘What’s wrong with your cookies?’ And the grandkids, of course, were laughing.”
That’s one of Sadowski’s many fond memories of her father, who died of Alzheimer’s seven years ago.
“I watched my dad struggle with this disease for many years. And I was always a daddy’s girl,” she said.
Laurie Sadowski and her father, Wally Dunn.
When Wally taught, he was a football coach in New Richmond, Wisconsin. After his retirement, Sadowski said she went along with him for his final homecoming. The game was particularly electric.
“They won on a last second field goal,” she reminisced. “They like to say that was my dad.”
Back at home, Sadowski’s time in the kitchen is also dedicated to her dad. It’s especially close to her heart in August.
“He didn’t know who I was, the last two months. But I was the ‘Cookie Lady.’ And that made my heart happy,” she said.
‘Cookies for a Cause’
In August, Sadowski sells a dozen cookies for $10 a batch. All of the proceeds from the sale goes to a fundraiser for the Alzheimers Association.
This year, her family is participating in the Minnesota Ride to End ALZ on Sunday, Oct. 13. The proceeds from her cookie sale go right into that pot. So far this year, she said she’s sold 60 batches– or $600 for Alzheimer’s research.
Laurie bakes cookies for the fundraiser in her home kitchen.
“I have to be there for him, but I can’t just stand by and let other families be affected by this,” Sadowski said.
The ride is held at Elm Creek Park Reserve. There are multiple distances and Sadowski said it’s a powerful way to support a change.
Sadowski’s story comes back to the peanut butter cookie mishap. Each year on the anniversary of her father’s death, she pays homage to his memory.
“Whenever I do bake, now, peanut butter cookies, there’s always one that I don’t mush. And I’ll bring it to his grave, just for him,” she said.
You can learn more about the Ride to End Alzheimers on the Alzheimers Association website. You can donate to Sadowski and her team, Wally’s Wandering Warriors, on their donation page. If you’d like to support while also getting a sweet treat, you can order from “Cookies for a Cause” on Laurie’s Sweet Sensations’ Facebook page. Cookie pickup is in Maple Grove.
