Charlotte, there's a good chance you don't know Gretchen Holt.

She's the PR person for OXO in New York City. You might use OXO tools, but other than that, there aren't a lot of reasons Gretchen Holt and Charlotte, N.C., would cross paths.

But Gretchen Holt knows you. And she seriously loves this town.

If Gretchen Holt could give us a group hug, she'd do it.

Holt's son, Liam Witt, died in January, at age 61/2, after a four-year fight with cancer.

Liam's funeral was a very big deal. The cast from "The Lion King" sang. The New York City Fire Department rolled out the bagpipes. You can find video on YouTube if you search for his name. Don't do it without tissues.

Why were so many people touched by Liam? That would be Gretchen.

Gretchen Holt is one of those very smart, very organized people. For years in the food-writing world, a lot of us knew Gretchen as the smart PR agent, the one who takes the time to learn what you need and never wastes your time.

When Liam got sick, Gretchen didn't waste time. She couldn't cure her son, so she zeroed in on the lack of money directed toward research into pediatric cancers.

In 2007, she got people to bake and sell 96,000 cookies to raise money. It worked so well, she founded a nonprofit, Cookies For Kids' Cancer.

A lot of charities now have connections to cookies, including the Ronald McDonald House. Holt understands:

"In order to make this something people could accept, it had to be so innocent. It had to be the exact antithesis of the words 'Your kid has cancer.' This is so not-scary that people can ease into it."

Mostly, Cookies for Kids' Cancer holds bake sales. Lots of bake sales.

Holt went to Meredith College in Raleigh, so she has N.C. connections. CFKC's first paid employee, Emily Fowler, lives in Cornelius.

At Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, where Liam was getting treated, Holt met Amy Christenbury of Charlotte, whose son, Grier, also has cancer.

Christenbury started organizing bake sales. Others have, too.

Charlotte has now had so many bake sales, it's the charity's top fundraising site, with more bake sales per capita than any other city. Until 12 days ago, when New York City finally passed us, we held the record for the top-grossing bake sale - $30,000, in December.

"Whoever heard of a bake sale raising that much money?" Holt marvels.

You can find out about CFKC sales at www.cookiesforkidscancer.org. Maybe we can take back the record.

Glad Products now gives matching grants for Cookies. In May, for Liam's birthday, they're offering $225,000. And there's a book coming out in September, "Cookies For Kids' Cancer Best Bake Sale Cookbook," that includes a shout-out for Charlotte.

"Without Charlotte, this would not be the same organization," Holt says. "Charlotte is that involved."

Holt hopes to come to Charlotte in the fall, when the book comes out. She wants to meet people in the city that's done so much. Much hugging will be done.

"Charlotte is my other home," Holt says. "My go-to city. People in Charlotte really step up to the plate."