Scott McKenzie and Jeremy Uhrich accidently turned their cookie war into a kindness project that would go on to treat essential workers for months!
Pennsylvania, United States of America (11 December 2020) – 58-year-old Scott McKenzie was furloughed and as a way to keep busy, he decided to learn a new skill each week. The very first skill he wanted to learn was to bake cookies.
Scott’s first cookie attempt was chocolate chip cookies and while they didn’t look very good, they were delicious. Scott posted the pictures of his cookies on Facebook and his friend 42-year-old Jeremy Uhrich was the first to comment. Jeremy commented that he could do better and so a cookie war was started.
A student of Jeremy’s got wind of the cookie war and decided to join the competition. It got so much attention that their town mayor was called in to pick the best cookie. The student won in the end but that isn’t where this story ends.
In their defeat, Scott and Jeremy drove to where there local essential workers had been working and dropped off the cookies that had left from their bake-off. The essential workers were really touched by the gesture.
The guys were so impressed that some simply baked cookies could have such a big effect on the people around them so they decided to bake more and drop them off with essential workers all around town.
They launched their initiative “Cookies for Caregivers” and started a group where people could donate their cookies to essential workers in the area.
“Cookies for Caregivers was born as a reflection of the COVID-19 experience in 2020,” notes the group’s Facebook page. “Many folks continued to go to work and serve their community as others were told to stay home, or were able to work from home. We decided to show our gratitude to those working to serve us by serving them freshly baked cookies as a modest sign of our appreciation and respect.”
For the last eight months, the Cookies for Caregivers initiative has handed out over 15,000 cookies to nurses, doctors, carers, clinic workers, firefighters, first responders and so many more essential workers.
Scott has since gone back to work but this accomplishment has brought so much joy to his town and it all started with learning a new skill!