A Cookie Swap for a Good Cause

Each year there are thousands and thousands of forgotten elderly who are institutionalized in private and public facilities due to physical or mental impairments. Many of them have no families or visitors who care enough to spend some time with them. For many of these residents, their birthdays and Holidays are just another day. While many lose track of time and are no longer able to enjoy activities and hobbies of the past, most can still enjoy food, especially something home-cooked.

This Christmas season, I decided to organize a cookie swap with the cookies being given to our local county nursing home.  First I ran the idea past the Director of Nursing. I then posted the idea on Facebook addressing it to my local Facebook friends. Within four days, I had 10 people who volunteered to bake. The idea goes like this: my role is to make sure that everyone makes a different kind of cookie. On Sunday, December 18, the bakers will bring their cookies to my home, where we will put the varieties  on trays and wrap them for delivery to the nursing home later that day. Each baker can keep some of the cookie varieties for himself/herself, but 90% of the cookies go to the residents. I am expecting that in another week, I will have at least an additional ten bakers to add their favorite cookie recipe to the assortment

It may not sound like much, but maybe something as simple as a cookie can help to re-connect memories of happier times and bring a small part of the Joy of Christmas to some lonely resident.