By EMILY SPARACINO / Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA – Six-year-old Braylen Green had been standing behind her tray of freshly baked cookies for only a few minutes when a couple approached her and asked what kinds she was selling May 3 at Tin Top BBQ 2.

“Reese’s chocolate peanut butter and chocolate-toffee chip,” she answered with a smile, and watched as the couple picked out several cookies and dropped money into a small bucket with a bright pink sign that read “Braylen Bakes Cookies for a Cause.”

An avid baker, Green asked for permission to start selling her homemade cookies at Tin Top BBQ 2, her grandfather Mike Gannon’s restaurant, last month.

When Green’s parents, Allen and Jennifer Gannon Green, asked her what she wanted to do with her earnings, she offered an inspiring answer.

“My idea was to give it to someone else,” Braylen said.

Braylen and her family decided to give the proceeds from her cookie sales to Braylen’s friend Maddie Howard, a local girl battling leukemia.

Jennifer said Braylen’s desire to donate the money instead of keeping it created an opportunity to show Braylen how her generosity could positively impact another person.

“It was really good that she wanted to do that,” Jennifer said of Braylen. “It just made it a good teachable moment for her.”

So far, Braylen has raised nearly $200 for Howard.

“I enjoy selling the cookies and giving the money to Maddie,” Braylen said.

Braylen developed her cookie-making skills early in life. She started helping her mother in the kitchen when she was 2 years old.

She said she wants to be on Food Network’s “Kids Baking Championship.”

She is good at selling her cookies, too. Her grandfather can’t resist dropping a few dollars into her bucket each time she is set up at his restaurant counter.

“Y’all killed my banana pudding sales,” Mike Gannon said to Braylen and Jennifer with a chuckle.

Braylen is a student at Chelsea Park Elementary School and has a brother, Jud.

Braylen will be selling more cookies at Tin Top BBQ 2 in Columbiana on Saturday, May 7, and she plans to continue the first Saturday of each month.

Each cookie is $1, and extra donations are welcome.

“She’s just been so excited about it,” Jennifer said. “It’s been really good.”