The Sugar Mouse Cupcake House has been a Laramie staple since 2019, but few people know the shop’s heartwarming origin story. At first, the cupcake sales were not for personal profit, instead being sent to a young girl in Cambodia who had been rescued from sex trafficking.
“After supporting her for about five years, I saw the need to support all the girls who had been rescued,” shop owner Ruth Williams said. “Their physical needs were taken care of, but they needed emotional support.”
It was then that Williams founded the group Heart Mothers. Members of this group write letters to the girls rescued from trafficking and placed in an all-girls orphanage in Cambodia. “They become a mother figure,” Williams stated.
Almost 14 years ago, the orphanage experienced a funding crisis and there was not enough money to provide the girls living there with three meals a day. Williams decided to start selling cupcakes at the farmer’s market to help the girls in Cambodia make ends meet. She continued this for ten years.
“Every summer, from June to September, I would bake continually,” Williams said. “We’ve sent over 100,000 dollars to the girls in cupcake money over the years.”
Williams says that the business grew from there and they sent 100% of the profits to the girls in the orphanage.
“A farmer’s market is a lot of work, and it took over my life. There was no vacation,” Williams said. So when a downpour of rain destroyed Williams’ farmer’s market tent and soaked all her baked goods in 2019, she decided to take that as a sign to move her business indoors. She rented a little storefront in October, and only a few months later, the COVID-19 quarantine began, shutting her down.
“We had a staff of five, and I didn’t know what I was going to do because I had my girls to feed,” Williams said. “There were 147 girls in Cambodia. I needed to find a way to keep the shop running.”
During the shutdown, The Sugar Mouse branched into delivery services to try and make up the money needed for the orphanage.
Somaly Mam, the woman in Cambodia who rescues the girls and runs the orphanage, took it upon herself to contact the Cambodian Prime Minister hoping to receive funding. He did not grant it.
Mam didn’t give up, though. She called his wife, who visited the kids and quickly fell in love with them. Finally, her husband agreed to pledge 145,000 dollars a year and he had a three-story orphanage built.
“I didn’t have to panic anymore,” Williams said. She pivoted The Sugar Mouse into a normal business, now keeping a portion of the money to run the shop and donating the rest to various fundraisers and charities.
She now focuses on her group Heart Mothers.
“I have 150-something ladies, and each one writes to one of the girls,” Williams said. “Every month, they send me their letters… and then I mail the box when I have every single letter. I wait until I have every letter to make sure that each girl gets one.”
Williams also visits her girls every February, taking five women from her organization with her to meet their Heart Daughters.
“We’re always looking for good ladies,” Williams said. “Ladies who have a heart and are willing to write a letter every month… These girls need love. They need support.”
