Canadian Elementary School fourth-grader Maddy Longoria loves to cook. Her favorite dish, from The Pioneer Woman recipe book, is pork chops, cinnamon apples, and grits. Cheese-and-onion grits, she says, smiling—with bacon. So it was only natural for her—when she heard the Canadian Community Center was having a block party and fundraiser last week—to offer to hold a bake sale. “I like to bake a lot, and it’s really fun for me,” she said. Maddy doesn’t think small. She asked her mom to help. Then she asked her friends. And then, she asked her neighbors, going door-to-door one day to rustle up more donations to the bake sale. Not one of them turned her down. Not one. “My mom and I made some, and they all made some,” Maddy explained. Easy. Like there was nothing to it. We first learned about Maddy’s bake sale from CCC Assistant Director Ike Julian, who admitted that when he first heard her idea, he welcomed her plan, but imagined it might involve a lot of help from him and the staff. No, Maddy told him. “I’ve got this.” And she did. When the community center first opened its doors on Saturday morning, the first baker appeared with a plate full of goodies. Then another. And another and another. “They just kept coming,” Ike said, bringing banana nut bread and bundt cakes and fresh apple cake and cheesecake and jelly and cupcakes of all kinds....and coconut cream pie. Maddy arrived, too, bringing her family’s contributions to the sale—German chocolate cake; cherry pie; some turtles; and of course, some Rice Krispie treats and brownies. She also brought the signs she had made to promote the sale. After arranging the merchandise, and putting up the signs, she sat down behind the counter and prepared to meet the public. Maddy’s brother, Wyatt, had the idea of doing a lemonade stand to help out. “We just said it was $1 a glass,” she said. “I never made sure they paid for it.” “People were so hot and thirsty, and they would always come back,” Maddy explained. When they did, they bought more baked goods. Maddy is also a marketing genius. By the time the lemonade was gone, so were the baked goods, and it was time to close. At one point during the evening, Ike said he encouraged Maddy to take a break and go join her friends outside, who were designing their own t-shirts and swimming and getting their faces painted. Maddy stayed at her post. Why? we asked. “Because for me, leaving is just not...you’re leaving what you wanted to do, and you didn’t do it.” Yup. Fourth-grade. Maddy’s Bake Sale raised $1,526—all of which went back to the community center. “It’s amazing,” Maddy said. “If you raise that amount of money, it’s great, because you can just help the community, and make it a better place for kids to go.” But that’s not all. “I would say that it’s fun,” Maddy said. “It’s amazing on how it feels to just be that person.” We’d say amazing is a perfect word, Maddy.