Heading to the Marina Market this Saturday?

If you’re eating out, make sure you leave some room for dessert: a very special local six-year-old is hosting a Saturday bake sale at the venue for an excellent cause.

Little Sara Higgins from Cork city was born with a rare genetic condition called Muenke Syndrome. She took her first trip to Temple Street Hospital in Dublin at just six weeks old. Since then she has been through several major surgeries, including three in the last ten weeks alone.

However, for kind and joyful Sara and her parents Diane and Kevin, giving back to those who look after her so well is very important.

Sara loves baking more than anything else, in fact, that’s exactly what she wants to be when she grows up, a baker, although just cakes she clarifies, not bread or anything boring like that, so organising an annual cake sale to raise money for Children’s Health Foundation, Temple Street, makes sense.

‘The experience has shown us how fantastic the team in Temple Street is, and the bake sale the previous years has shown us how willing the people of Cork are to come together and support a good cause.” said Sara’s mum Diane Higgins.

“People have come out of the woodwork to help us in so many different ways.

Picture: Chani Anderson

“We never want Sara to feel like a victim, and although there have been tough times for us as a family over the past few weeks, and years, the bonding and support we have felt with each other and with our community has been unbelievably positive and in a way we are lucky to have an opportunity to see so much good in people.”

This is the family’s third year participating in Temple Street’s Great Irish Bake and so far they have raised €13,000. This year Diane hopes to increase that figure to €20,000. The bake sale is taking place in the Marina Market this Saturday, March 16th all day from 9am until they sell out.

‘We are looking for donations in the form of cash or cakes, or support for the raffle’ says Diane who can be contacted through Sara’s Facebook page.