Cookie corner on campus
“Konfections4Kids” brings sweets and fundraising together as one
Sydney Ritter
MesaCC Legend
There is a man at Mesa Community College (MCC) who sells sweets to the community for charity. His name is Vincent Fury and he is the founder of “Konfections4Kids,” a setup where he sells his own, homemade baked goods to the community in exchange for money to give to local charities. Fury sets up his table of baked goods every Monday, Tuesday and Friday on the MCC campus and it all started three years ago when Fury started working with a local charity Golden Gates of America. “I just Forrest Gumpped my way into this situation,” Fury said. “It all started as a golf tournament and this table just kind of developed and we ended up raising more money with this table and it sort of became my project.”
Now Fury makes and gives his homemade cookies to the autistic children at Kerr Elementary and fundraises money to buy basic needs for the individuals at the Genesis Project. Fury always keeps an eye out for sales on toiletries such as shampoo, bar soap, toothbrushes and even underwear to give to the men, women, and children who need it. And once in a while Fury will pick up a tent and sleeping bag when he can. “Whenever I see a good deal on underwear I always buy it up because a lot of people donate clothes to them but no one wants to donate their old underwear so whenever I see a good deal on underwear or socks, I buy them all up,” Fury said. Fury has always liked making “sweet things” to give homemade gifts and one day he decided “if [he] could give them away as gifts, [he] could raise some money to help these kids.”
Fury has owned his own restaurants and catered hundreds of events in his lifetime so to him, his little table is just for fun. Even when he ran his restaurants, Fury baked his own desserts. In his own confection oven, Fury bakes everything that gets sold on his table. With that Fury can bake 500-600 cookies every hour, so in Fury’s words “he doesn’t take as much time on his baking that people might think.” Currently, Fury sells cookies of all sorts, popcorn, fudge, biscotti and pizzelles (Italian waffle cookies) that sold faster than he ever thought they would. “One thing lead to another. More and more items were added to the table and “Konfections4Kids” was born,” Fury said.
Every so often there will be a new sweet treat that Fury tries out with his customers, like some cashew “turtles” that sold out so fast that he didn’t know what to do after. Fury got involved with South Mountain Community College and soon was selling his baked good at MCC, and only wants to sell at colleges. The one thing Fury loves about selling his baked goods at MCC, the students that attend the campus. “I like the younger people, they’re more interesting,” Fury said. “I like the atmosphere and the energy here. The time goes by so fast, even when I’m slow there is always something to do.” Fury is planning to add more charities to his arsenal and hopes to sell to other campuses such as Arizona State University. Fury currently sells three days a week at MCC so get your sweet treats while you can. Everything is 2/$5. According to Fury, it’s the perfect price for any college student.
