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"Our present to him is helping him with it," his mother said. "We don't expect him to do everything."
Luke has no regrets about not getting toys or video games.
"Everybody who is helping out in any way, they're giving that gift to me," Luke said. "I really like seeing people giving their time and money toward this organization.
"Making me happy with this is kind of my present."
Adding to the cause
Luke had the support of his two brothers during Saturday's event.
Ethan, 9, helped sell the food, and Henry, 3, sampled some of offerings and otherwise charmed the customers, their mother said.
Luke also had friends from Catonsville Middle School, where he's a sixth-grader, as wekk as from Arbutus Middle and Westowne Elementary help out during Saturday's event.
The four tables on which the baked items were displayed were constantly being emptied and re-filled, Melissa Pound said.
"People hung out and talked. There was a nice community feel to it," she said.
Liz Getsinger, the teacher who taught Luke the weeklong health lesson that inspired him, spread the word around Westowne Elementary School and has received strong feedback.
"Not a total surprise," Getsinger said of learning Luke organized a fundraiser. "I was just like, 'Oh. That's my Luke.'
"When he commits himself to something, it's no joke. He's so serious about accomplishing things."
Teachers gave Getsinger money to donate to the cause.
"He's got such a good heart and a great spirit," Getsinger said. "Everybody is really impressed around here."
In addition to his friends, another half dozen or more workers at the Pediatric AIDS Program baked items and attended the sale, said Dr. Vicki Tepper, the director of the program who was among the crowd Saturday.
Only once in Tepper's 21 years working at the program, which currently treats 204 children who have AIDS or are HIV positive children, has she seen someone do something similar to Luke's bake sale.
In 2007, a newlywed couple requested that people send donations to the program instead of giving them gifts, Tepper said.
"I think this is a very unusual gesture for such a young person to do in a very wonderful way," said Tepper, who made chocolate cupcakes with purple frosting for the bake sale.
The money that Luke donates, Tepper said, will go toward transporting about 20 of the children in the program to Ashford, Conn., where they will take part in The Hole in the Wall Gang camp.
The camp, founded by actor Paul Newman in 1988, allows children with serious and life-threatening conditions to participate in activities such as miniature golf, swimming, boating and horseback riding.
While the camp is free, transporting the kids is expensive, Tepper said.
Luke is quick to deflect any praise he gets to those who helped put this project together.
"It's not really just me that's helping them out," Luke said last week. "It's everybody who's going to be coming and donating food and money."
This story was updated Oct. 24.


