The Bake-Sale Girl

Hey Fellow Survivors,


My name is Ashley Fieseler, and I am a 21 year old girl passionate about the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. I work/help with this foundation in honor of my amazing Mom who took her life October 27th, 2005. I became very active with the foundation in January of 2009 by raising $1,000.00 dollars for the foundation and walking in the 18 mile walk in Chicago. When I first heard I had to raise $1,000.00 dollars I was nervous because it was a high goal. My coach at the time reassured me I could do it, and my great buddy Gayle cheered me on the whole way. Last year I raised over $2,000.00 dollars, over-exceeding my goal!


So now I’m in my second year, this time Boston, and I’ve got to admit the goal of raising $1,000.00 again makes me a little nervous. But I did a repeat of my last fundraisers by bringing back my big success of doing a bake-sale. I again asked all my friends and family to help me bake, because I’m not the best in the kitchen. I also asked parents at the day-care I work at to help make some bake-goods as well, and they all eagerly helped. So I set the date to February 16th, “Fat-Tuesday.” I had so many donations of bake-goods from my friends, family and parents that I crossed my fingers to sell them all.Some people gave me some odd looks as I was doing the bake-sale at my work, a YMCA. Many people passed on the delicious bake-goods, but still donated. I talked to so many great people about their life stories and how they them-selves have either been suicidal or have lost a loved one to suicide. It was a great feeling to let the people know that there is help out there. Of course I had some great little helpers from the day-care, their smiles sold a lot of bake-goods. One little girl even tried to sell my poster! And I couldn’t have made it through the exhausting day without my amazing boyfriend Tim. It was really hard at times to speak about my mother because it brought back many memories, but I remembered it was for her and me. There were also great moments of laughter, and encouragement.


At the end of an exhausting day, we did the official count, and we raised $650.00 dollars for the foundation! All of this was possible by just asking people for help, it was a rejuvenating experience. I was again made aware of how willing people are to help, all you have to do is ask.


I hope you all have great experiences in raising money for either yourself or your loved one. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think of my amazing Mom. And I am glad that this foundation is here to help others like my mother, before it is too late. Thank-you all for checking out my story! To check-out more and follow my many more fundraisers go to www.ashleyfieseler.com


Your Survivor Buddy,


-Ashley