BROKEN BOW – Michaela Bissonette’s 10 a.m. pop-up bake sale was scheduled to last until 6 p.m. on Friday, though she easily could have amended that to 10:45 in the morning.
Before the first hour had lapsed, the buckets, boxes and shelves holding roughly 2000 of Bissonette’s homemade cookies and cupcakes had been wiped clean, which works out to about 44 treats sold every minute.
The line, comprised of community members from all corners, stretched out the door of Lillie Kate’s Boutique and into the Broken Bow February, even after the news broke that the Valentine’s-themed sweets had been depleted. It seemed everyone was on hand, not just to support Bissonette’s baking skill, which has a following in its own right for good reason, but why her skill was on display.
Her husband, James Bissonette, a Broken Bow volunteer firefighter, lost his life in September of 2021 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic; he was 34. His heart was donated through Live On Nebraska, and it is for them that Bissonette and her community baked, bought, sold, and ate at light speed on Friday morning.
Bissonette, during a rare and all-too-short break in her morning, said that the holiday and circumstances presented a perfect opportunity for her bake sale.
“I love Valentine’s Day, and I always have. It’s my favorite holiday; you can be as corny and cheesy as you want to. I’ve always wanted to give back in James’ honor, and because he donated his heart, I thought that Valentine’s Day was the most fitting time to do that.”
With a laugh, Bissonette says that James most likely would not have shared her enthusiasm for touting his remarkable contribution.
“He would hate all of it, all the attention, his name being on all these cards, every second of it.”
However, Bissonette believes that despite how James may have felt about the adulation, she is doing right by his memory by helping continue Live On Nebraska’s mission.
“I wanted to honor him, and his ‘golden heart’ that we’ve always talked about. Live On Nebraska helped us through the whole process when we decided to donate his organs. After we made that decision, they took over his medical care, that he was always comfortable twenty-four-seven, and we just wanted to give back to them.”
The entirety of the proceeds from Bissonette’s blistering 45-minute bake sale will go straight to Live On Nebraska, which partners with hospitals in Nebraska and Pottawattamie County in Iowa to facilitate the recovery of organs and tissues from those like James Bissonette who choose to donate.
