Snoqualmie boy, 11, cooking up treats to help African children

With a little creativity and a lot of flour, 11-year-old Dylan Riley made more than $2,000 to help children in Africa.

With a little creativity and a lot of flour, 11-year-old Dylan Riley made more than $2,000 to help children in Africa.

Dylan, the son of Paul and Keomany Riley of Snoqualmie, sold cookies, ornaments, drink mixes and candles to raise money for Pilgrim, a relief organization in Uganda.

“He wanted to do something special for people in Africa,” his mother, Keomany said. “I helped him, but actually, it’s Dylan’s efforts.”

For three weeks before Thanksgiving, Dylan and his mom made cookies and other baked goods in marathon six-hour baking sessions each week. They also packaged ornaments and other items that Dylan wanted to sell for his fund-raiser.

“We just tried to be very creative in case people didn’t want to buy baked goods,” said Keomany.

When people would ask Dylan why he was working so hard on this project, he’d answer “I’m glad because I have food to eat, and I just want to help other children,” Keomany said.

His beneficiary, Pilgrim (www.pilgrimafrica.org) provides a school, counseling and farming programs, medical care and a malaria control project in the area of Soroti Uganda.

Dylan will probably do some type of holiday fund-raiser annually, and Keomany thinks he’ll probably want to help U.S. children next year, but “I’m just going to leave it up to him.”