Nonprofit raises funds to send sick 6-year-old, family to Florida for some fun in the sun

A West Nyack cookie factory is giving back to the community by helping surprise a little girl who is living with chronic health problems.

News 12 Staff

Dec 8, 2019, 9:52 PM

Updated 1,599 days ago

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A West Nyack cookie factory is giving back to the community by helping surprise a little girl who is living with chronic health problems.
The nonprofit Baking Memories 4 Kids has sold thousands of their cookies to people all across America to fund a surprise family getaway for one special little girl on Long Island.

Six-year-old Mia Balbo has been living with an autoimmune disease called ulcerative colitis since she was just two. The condition causes her to suffer from chronic inflammation.

Mia's parents brought her to Baking Memories 4 Kids cookie factory in West Nyack, telling her and her sister Ella that they would spend the day making sweets.

But her parents - and hundreds of volunteers- had something else up their sleeves.

"We decided that, I think the most special thing to do for you girls is to get on a big plane and go to Disney World for a whole week,” says Frank Squeo, founder of Baking Memories 4 Kids, who launched the foundation seven years ago after surviving cancer.
Thanks to the proceeds that Baking Memories 4 Kids raised through selling cookies, the Balbo family will also get to visit Sea World, LegoLand and Universal Studios. Their exclusive passes mean they get to cut all of the lines.
 


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