Imagine if you can, 36,000 cookies or 3,000 dozen. Imagine packing all of those cookies with love and care and most importantly prayer, not to go to family or friends or even to the church for a fundraising event, but instead to prisoners, who may not have seen or tasted a homemade cookie for a very long time.
According to Cindy Yoder of Millersburg, who, among many other volunteers from around the area, helps to pack the cookies, the Prison Cookie Project was started by the Gospel Echoes Prison Team from Goshen, Ind., which has been taking cookies to 15 different prisons for more than 20 years. John Schmid, of Common Ground Ministries, also a prison ministry, became interested in the project locally and initiated contact with the London Correctional Institution in London, Ohio, and the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville. 2011 was the first year for the cookie project in Ohio. This is now a joint effort between Gospel Echoes and John Schmid-Common Ground Ministries.
So far, Yoder said, who, along with numerous other volunteers, also visits the prisons and helps with the distribution, these are the only two prisons we can get into because the rules in Ohio are very strict.
A group from Plain City bakes 1,500 dozen and the rest come from the Holmes County community. Common Ground Ministries is the hub for coordinating who will do the baking and the kinds of cookies that will be included. Families, friends, and churches are involved in baking. Some contribute a few dozen, while others contribute 60-100 dozen. One family generously donated 150 dozen cookies. Several kinds of cookies are included, such as Snickerdoodles, peanut butter cookies, iced sugar cookies, chocolate chip and more. As the flour and sugar and other ingredients are mixed, bakers are encouraged to pray for the inmates who will be receiving the cookies. The entire project is meant to bring the love of God to those who are behind bars.
Glendon Bender, Gospel Echoes team cookie project coordinator, made this comment in an email to volunteers: This year over 40,000 bags, 240,000 cookies, 12 million calories, baked in love, wrapped in prayer and offered in hope.
On Dec. 5, volunteers gathered at Dayspring Church to pack the cookies. Each bag is packed with six different cookies, each three inches in diameter, making sure that the inmates are treated equally. Each bag also contains an address book with the Gospel of John, a salvation plan and a handwritten card. Some of the cards have been written by children in Amish schools, with phrases such as baked with love or have a blessed Christmas.
This way they get the taste of cookies and a taste of the Gospel, said Yoder. She is joined by her husband, Philip and son, Joseph, when taking part in this ministry.
The holidays are a sad and lonely time for the inmates, not only because of where they are but because many of them have lost all contact with their families. This pack of cookies and the card are the only gift some will receive the entire year, said Yoder. They know when we are coming and really look forward to it.
All 5,200 prisoners in the two prisons, plus the officers, guards and administration workers receive cookies.
Yoder explained the process of distributing the cookies to the inmates. All of the volunteers get to go to the dorms in the mens prison, Yoder said. The ladies stay in the hallway and sing Christmas carols. The dorm is a huge room that houses about 150 prisoners, and each facility houses about 1,500 inmates. The men go into the dorms directly to the inmates beds and hand them the cookies. In the womens prison, we go into the chapel and they file through. Its just a different setting there.
Usually there are about 80 volunteers that go, Yoder said. In the mens prison, we divide up into six different groups to go into six different dorms. In the womens, we take turns handing out the cookies, and part of the group is in the back singing Christmas carols and shaking hands.
Going into the womens prison is probably the most emotional, Yoder said. Many will have tears in their eyes as they come through the door, hearing the Christmas songs and seeing the caring volunteers handing the cookies to each one of them with a handshake or a hug.
Yoder shared this testimonial from an inmate: To all the ladies and gentlemen who brought cookies to the Ohio Reformatory for Women here in Marysville, I just want to thank you for your kindness. I broke down crying when I heard you singing. That gesture was one of the kindest I have received in the 11 years I have been here and those cookies were fabulous. I havent tasted anything that delicious in a long time. I dont expect you to understand the impact that you all had on us, but I will try to explain. We are so broken here and some have no one out there who cares for us at all, and for a stranger to come in and care enough to sing and give us cookies means a lot.
Another testimony from the mens prison: I have lost all I have ever had and I know I will never get out of here. I have life without parole and nothing to look forward to day to day. Seeing someone caring enough to bring us cookies and a handwritten card brings tears to my eyes. Just to get a taste of Jesus love through volunteers gives me hope. Thank you and God bless.
The testimonies go on and on and it makes it worth all the work that is put in by so many, said Yoder. A cookie doesnt seem like much, but when it touches a broken and hardened soul, it gives them a taste of Gods love. We let them know each cookie was made with flour, prayer and much love.
Bender noted, Pray for the cookie project, that through it men and women will be reminded of Christs love and that they are not forgotten.
