Baking a Difference
By Mackenzie Cogle
With the last of the Halloween candy disappearing and the holidays quickly approaching, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the shopping, the parties and, of course, baking those special seasonal goodies for friends and family. This year we are all about sharing the love, and what better way to get involved than a sweet cause that will surely warm your heart?
Cookies for Kids' Cancer began in 2008 as a large-scale bake sale with some 250 volunteers and the goal of selling more than 96,000 cookies. Since then, it has turned into one of the most successful charities nationwide. Their goal is simple: fund research for new and improved therapies for pediatric cancer. Founded by Gretchen Holt-Witt (shown at right), whose son Liam battled neuroblastoma before he passed away in 2011, Cookies for Kids' Cancer helps host hundreds of bake sales nationwide each year. The non-profit organization also sells cookies online with 100 percent of proceeds given to research to help kids like Liam.
In November and December, Glad Food Storage is teaming up with Cookies for Kids’ Cancer and acclaimed pastry chef, author, and TV-personality Johnny Iuzzini to donate $100,000 for pediatric cancer research. During these holidays months, if you host a cookie exchange of your own and register the number of cookies exchanged on https://www.cookiesforkidscancer.org/, Glad will donate $1 per cookie. Click here to register your bake sale.
Need some baking inspiration? You can use one of the three recipes Iuzzini created for the exchange: Spiced Raisin Cookies, Lime Shortbread, and Fudge Cookies. Or select from our 100 Best Cookies here.
No time to bake? You can still exchange cookies -- virtually. For each virtual cookie that is exchanged, Glad will donate 15 cents, and once 5,000 cookies are sent, Glad will increase the donation to 25 cents per cookie. You'll also be entered to win a holiday baking kit from Glad when you make a virtual exchange.
So go on -- schedule a cookie exchange, send some virtual cookies, and make a difference, one cookie at a time.
Photo by Virgil Bastos
