#Penn. group delivers thousands of cookies to frontline workers

What started as a competition has turned into a movement of kindness.

Scott McKenzie and Jeremy Uhrich, both from Huntingdon, Pa., held a bake-off back in April at the height of the pandemic.

McKenzie, 58, told People that he just was furloughed and decided he wanted to teach himself something new every week. He started with learning to bake cookies from scratch.

“I never made cookies from scratch before, but I made them for the first time and they weren’t half bad,” McKenzie told the magazine. “So like everybody in my generation, I had to brag about what I did on Facebook.”

That same day, Uhrich, 42, also made cookies. When he saw McKenzie’s Facebook post, Uhrich commented, betting his own cookies were better than McKenzie’s.

To determine the truth, the men decided to hold a bake-off, inviting local frontline workers to judge the event.

“We just wanted to let these people know that we care about you, we recognize you and we aren’t forgetting about what you’re doing,” Uhrich told People. “This is just our small way of saying thank you and showing gratitude for what you have been doing and continue to do throughout the pandemic.”

After that, Uhrich and McKenzie created a Facebook group called “Cookies for Caregivers,” where people could sign up to make sweets for frontline workers.

Currently, the group has 299 members. According to People, the group has delivered more than 15,100 cookies and cakes to workers at hospitals, grocery stores and fire departments.

The magazine reported that Uhrich and McKenzie make a list of people to receive cookies every week, or members of the Facebook group nominate people.

Then, bakers bring their cookies to Uhrich’s house, where he and McKenzie arrange their delivery to local businesses and facilities.

The group has been such a success that Uhrich’s dad, Jerry, decided to start his own group in Hershey, Pa., People reported.

McKenzie told the magazine he and Uhrich plan to keep delivering cookies as long as possible.

“There aren’t enough people to thank,” he said. “Kindness doesn’t have an expiration date.”