Cookies at ChristmasTJM Cookie Week                                                       Donate Or Volunteer
 

 "Freely you have received, freely give."  Matthew 10:8 

 
At TJM, we've come to learn that small things matter.
 
Maybe you've heard someone say--especially about those in jail--that they should "get what they deserve."  Cookies is probably not what they had in mind.  Still, every Christmas, that is what the volunteers of TJM deliver to the men and women in jail. 
 
Beginning months ahead of time, we ask volunteers to bake hundreds of dozens of homemade cookies.  We have individuals, neighborhood groups, churches and schools who answer the call.
 
A week or so before Christmas, more volunteers gather for Cookie Week. With volunteers and cookies everywhere, we bring in, repackage and send back out over 15,000 cookies.  That's more than 1,200 dozen of homemade goodness.
 
Between 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve and 3 p.m. Christmas Day, our volunteer chaplains take the cookies to all the jail facilities in Hamilton County, Ohio.  Each incarcerated person receives a bag of cookies and assurance that someone is thinking about and praying for them over the holidays.  A similar thing is done for Corrections Officers a few days earlier.
 
TJM Cookie Volunteer
You may ask why. 
 
For many in society--incarcerated or not--Christmas is a very long, lonely day. In Hamilton Counties, as well as many jails around the country, there is no visiting on the holidays. TJM volunteers are friendly faces on those days and, even if you don't like the coconut cookies, our visit breaks up the day. 
 
More specifically, we know that we're a people who hang our lives on getting what we don't deserve--whether it's grace or cookies.  So, while a bag of cookies is a small thing, it's also a metaphor.
 
TJM Cookie Week
One that matters.
 
 
 
 
TJM's Cookies at Christmas program is possible because of the many volunteers.  If you would like to help ensure the program continues, fill out the information form and we'll get in touch with you.

2010 Details

Cookie Week begins Monday, December 20th.  Cookies may be dropped off at TJM from 9 am-3 pm on Monday & Tuesday.  We will be packing cookies on Tuesday & Wednesday from 9 am-4 pm...VOLUNTEERS are needed to help pack cookies.  On Thursday, Dec. 23rd the cookies will be picked up at TJM between 9 am-5 pm.  Cookies are distributed by members of the Adult Jail Chaplaincy team between 6 pm Christmas Eve. and 3 pm Christmas Day.
 
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