The recipe to give students a sweet treat at a time when they are finishing papers and preparing for final exams involves some 112 bricks of butter, 13 cups of vanilla, 144 cups of flour and enough stamina to bake and frost 1,000 cupcakes.

Now in its fourth year, the University of Lethbridge Alumni Association’s Cupcake Campaign was conceived of as a way to give students a little emotional support at a stressful time in the academic year, especially students living in residence who may be far away from their families.

“Parents of students living in residence, community members and alumni have the chance to buy a box of four cupcakes and then designate who they want them to go to in residence,” says Grant Adamson, president of the Alumni Association. “March is one of the hardest months. Everyone can get through the fall with Christmas on the horizon. Come springtime, that end doesn’t seem quite as visible.”

This year, ATB Financial showed their support by purchasing cupcakes and supplying volunteers to help distribute the boxes.

“I would like to thank Alumni Relations for helping us set up this program and to Sugar Bakeshop and ATB Financial for their donations of time, ingredients and money, and all the alumni and parents who helped bring this to the students in residence this year,” says Adamson.

Amy Whipple (BA ’07), owner of Sugar Bakeshop, goes into high gear about a week and a half before cupcake delivery day, buying all the ingredients to make the cakes and frosting.

“I make everything from scratch using my mom’s recipes,” she says.

Once the butter cream frosting is made, Whipple makes all the cupcakes in two or three days, working 12 to 14 hours a day. Her husband, Mike (BA ’03), helps make sure everything runs smoothly during the baking frenzy.

“When I first got to deliver some of the cupcakes and see how surprised the students were, it made all the long hours and all the baking worthwhile,” says Amy. “I would love to eventually get every student in residence a box of cupcakes.”

Recalling the pressures he faced as a student at this time of year, Adamson says a box of cupcakes would have given him a lift to help him get through the semester.

“I would have been more than happy to see a little note in my mailbox reminding me that someone out there is thinking of me or loving me at this time of stress,” says Adamson.