At the door: Divine Intervention. And Dustin Byrne, a 19-year-old University of Hawai'i sophomore, was happy.

"It was sweet," said Byrne of the mocha espresso cheesecake brownie bars that arrived at his dorm, thanks to his mother, Volcano Joe's restaurant and a new service called Campus Cakes.

"It wasn't so much the fact that she was thinking about me, but the food was good," he said with a grin. "It was sweet. I think my portion was gone before my last final. We ate it Wednesday night and Thursday and gave the rest to friends. It was like whenever we wanted something good to eat, it was there."

Campus Cakes is the brainchild of the "Friends of M Town," a fledgling UH parent group. The group's first newsletter offered far-flung parents across the Mainland and on Neighbor Islands — even those in Honolulu — the opportunity to call Volcano Joe's and order their children a little surprise for their birthday, for midterms, for finals.

The service has taken off. Through November — the first full month — there were more than 90 orders from parents all over the country.

"On the Mainland other campuses and parent groups are doing this, so we thought it would be a nice gesture, especially for parents off island to do something for their kids," said Dr. Theresa Wee, president of the parent group.

"I've had a few parents e-mail us saying they were really grateful."

One of them was Judy Barry of Boston, who took the opportunity to send a cheesecake to her daughter, Leah Ricker. Twice: once for Thanksgiving — the first one her daughter has spent away from home — and the second time for exam week.

"I believe it arrived the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving and it made her so happy," Barry said. "They chose a pumpkin cheesecake for the season, put a nice card on it and delivered it to her room.

"I've sent care packages from home before, but by the time you pay for the food and mail them it's not worth it. This is better. It's such a distance for me to send something."

Jonelle Sage, catering manager and events coordinator for Volcano Joe's, has cranked up the establishment's bakery production of homemade specialty cheesecakes to provide the extra service for students.

Parents have kept them jumping.

"Everyone kept e-mailing us saying 'My daughter's birthday is tomorrow ... can you do it?' " said Sage, who launched the extra business with a frantic rush. "I'm not going to turn away business, so we had to scramble. I was telling the pastry chef 'We need three of these cakes an hour.' We had over $900 in sales in November for just cakes."

Along with delighting the students, Sage has made parents as far away as Ohio, New York, Maryland and Texas very happy, too.

"We've gotten some really odd requests," she said. "One asked us to pick up a birthday card for her son. They're on the phone and really desperate, so I even agreed to pick up a summer sausage."

The cakes range in price from $10.95 to $11.95 plus $3 extra for delivery to one of the UH residence halls. They're all 8 inches round, with names like "The Empty Nest," "Daddy's Little Angel," "Up All Night" and "Divine Intervention."

"I've had two parents who've ordered repeatedly," she said. "Probably 60 percent are birthdays and then the others are finals, midterms, athletes when they have a game. For next semester we'll have some kind of special Valentine's Day packages — also for St. Patrick's and midterms and finals again. And we'll have gift bags that can be sent with it with all sorts of goodies inside. And $25 renewable gift cards parents can keep adding money to so their kids can eat out at Volcano Joe's as a break from cafeteria food.

"We also get a lot of people asking for balloons and that kind of thing, so I'm thinking of working something out with a florist for that, too," Sage said.

Ricker, a 20-year-old junior studying political science and linguistics, said the cakes her mom sent may not have improved her grades, but they sure lifted her spirits.

"My mom can't cook, so I don't know how much of a taste of home it was," said a light-hearted Ricker, "but it was really heartwarming. This was my first holiday without my family, so it was really sweet."