This week marks the one year anniversary for local nonprofit Cookies for Caregivers. Fifty-two weeks and more than 40,000 cookies delivered later, it’s hard to believe it all began with a simple challenge on Facebook.
Co-founders Jeremy Uhrich and Scott McKenzie both found themselves working from home last March when the pandemic first began. They had both turned to baking as a way to occupy their time, like many people, and when Uhrich spotted a photo of McKenzie’s cookies on his Facebook he proposed a bake-off. The pair quickly decided to turn their friendly competition into something more meaningful, and chose to donate the cookies they were baking to essential workers in the area. After recruiting four or five additional bakers, they started to make the deliveries a weekly event that’s been ongoing ever since.
“I don’t think anybody thought it would last this long except maybe Jeremy and I,” said McKenzie. “We always said there was not an expiration date on kindness so it never really had an end date, and as long as people still go to work and try to make their communities better we’ll still go out and have our bakers bake and we’ll still go thank them for what they do.”
Since that time the group has garnered national attention, and inspired more than 100 other groups to start across the country and share in their mission of shining a light on simple pleasures in a dark time.
“It’s remarkable how it’s grown, it’s expanded,” said Uhrich, “We never ever would have expected in a million years that this whole group, whatever you want to call it, would be where we are today. It’s pretty astonishing that this has been a year already.”
McKenzie and Uhrich’s simple goal has allowed much of the Huntingdon community to come together and support each other through the COVID-19 pandemic. Cookies for Caregivers has a list of about 200 volunteer bakers that they cycle through every week.
Miranda Peruso is a baker who got involved early on with donations of her “prize-winning” chocolate chip cookies, and has continued to donate throughout the year. She says that many people seem drawn to the group’s straightforward approach to giving back.
“I think people have latched onto it because it’s just so simple, and they’ve figured out the way to make it happen, and given people those tools,” said Peruso. “They have the system down so it’s a way that we can continue to expand what they call the ‘kindness radius.’”
Peruso’s own desire to give back to the local community initially drew her to the group.
“Really last year when the pandemic started I was just trying to figure out something to do to make a difference. I wanted to do something. I didn’t want to just sit around and be isolated in my own house... it was like, ‘how can we show them that we care about them?’” said Peruso. “I couldn’t think of anything myself, but when this came about, it was just like, ‘this is perfect.’ it seems so simple, but I think it means so much when people receive those cookies and they know that they’re being thought of or cared about in such a way.”
Marking the one year anniversary, bakers donated more than 300 dozen cookies that were donated to many of the same organizations that received the very first batches. Each box contained six dozen cookies and a special anniversary cookie donated by a group from Delaware that is decorated with the organization’s logo. Uhrich also organized another baking competition, and will award a prize to the best decorated cookies donated last week.
McKenzie says that he is proud that Cookies for Caregivers has continued to give back when so many people have forgotten about the pandemic’s toll on the community.
“Everybody has fatigue which I think makes it more important that we don’t let it impact what we do. Healthcare workers were besieged with pizzas, and subs, and cards, and lineups as they went home — and well deserved — and then people said, ‘Okay, I need to go back to taking care of me,’” said McKenzie, “It’s important that we sustain the thank you to all these folks.”
The group’s mission still remains focused on frontline and essential workers, but, according to Uhrich, it’s also expanded a lot in the last year.
“I think early on it was emphasized — with the fact of the pandemic — and wanting to help those who were going to work knowing a lot of people were able to work from home... early on it was more of that, but now that things have settled down a bit, vaccinations are happening, things are looking better I guess, now it’s not necessarily all about the pandemic, it’s about the simple fact of, can we all be kind? Can we all give?” said Uhrich.
Thanks to an overwhelming interest in the group from national media, they’ve also received large donations from organizations like King Arthur Flour, Bob’s Red Mill, and Planter’s Peanuts. McKenzie says that the funds from these donations will be channeled back into the Huntingdon community through donations that will be announced in the coming weeks.
“When you’re a part of a community your job is to take care of your community members,” said McKenzie.
Haldan can be reached at hkirsch@huntingdondailynews.com.
April 10, 2021 at 07:00PM
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Cookies for Caregivers celebrates 1 year anniversary | Local | huntingdondailynews.com - huntingdondailynews.com
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