A holiday cookie drive organized by a group of Grade 7 students from St. Michael’s Catholic School has been a recipe for success.
The 12 students who did all the baking made an estimated 300 cookies for the three shelters that are part of the Wyndham House program: two eight-bed supportive housing residences and one 14-bed youth emergency shelter.
The event was originally organized by five students; Julia Rocha, Olivia Haines, Avery Garrard, Gabrielle Lalonde and Sarah Gazzola. They will be bringing the cookies to all three shelters on Wednesday.
Rocha said the drive was really fun and that it felt really good to be a part of it.
"Baking the cookies felt really nice inside because it's going to a really good cause and it just feels really good inside to help people," said Rocha.
"Every youth deserves to feel special during the holidays."
During the drive, Rocha mentions the students involved participated in games and ate pizza, along with some cookies.
"We baked some to eat there and baked some for the Wyndham House and it was super fun," said Rocha.
For the event, each girl made two dozen cookies, one which would be given to Wyndham House, and the other to give out a cookie to each student participating in the event. Rocha mentions she made sugar cookies.
"I like shaping the cookies with the cookie cutter," said Rocha, "I made Reindeer and Christmas trees and stars and hearts."
Parent Cheryl Lalonde said there were so many cookies at the event, from sugar cookies, to chocolate chip cookies, to gingerbread and more.
"They baked a lot of cookies but they are all made with lots of love," she said.
Lalonde mentions this isn’t the first time the girls have put their culinary skills toward a good cause.
“They’ve cooked for HOPE House before, like they cooked and brought the food to HOPE House," said Lalonde.
Rocha adds the girls have also done a cookie exchange in the past.
"Yes, every year we do something like this, it's starting to be a tradition," she said.
As a mother, Lalonde adds it was nice to watch the girls get excited about giving back, adding COVID has made it a hard time for some.
“It warms your heart to see these kids be so positive and happy and do these random acts of kindness for other people,” said Lalonde, “It’s like, ‘What are we going to do next?’ They’re excited for the next project.”
