Non-Profit Spotlight: One Kind Cookie
We are excited to feature One Kind Cookie as September’s Non-Profit Spotlight. Becky Grizovic, Founder and President, explains the organization’s mission and how it serves the community.
One Kind Cookie Mission
To uplift, appreciate and honor our first responder and veteran communities through the simplicity of a cookie.
When did One Kind Cookie start?
One Kind Cookie was launched on World Kindness Day, November 13, 2019 by Becky Grizovic. We were not newbies in the kitchen though. By this point, we had already served up over 630,000 cookies across the country and in Germany through our project, Cookies for a Cop and our Fire Friends, started December 2014. Until the launch of OKC in November, we were not a non-profit organization and had no official backing. We were simply a grassroots effort powered by caring hearts and loads of smiles.
What makes One Kind Cookie stand out?
One Kind Cookie (nationally known better through the Cookies for a Cop and our Fire Friends name) is a way that families, friends and communities truly come together with a very specific and detailed mission to deliver kindness and appreciation. We have “cookie” in our name and with every trip but honestly, the cookie is just our excuse. It’s our way of giving countless people across the country a tool to have a reason to walk through the door to extend a handshake, share a smile and connect with those who give so much to each of us. Our volunteers say it time and time again – “we stepped up to do this for others but what we came away with inside was so much more than we could have anticipated.” Our mission is one that is so simple and so rewarding that people of all ages – children through retirees can take part in and walk away feeling so incredible. Our mission touches gifter and giftee in great ways.
What are the greatest needs of One Kind Cookie?
We need funds to be able to continue to grow. In October 2019, we took our first ever Cookie Caravan to Chicago to deliver 21,000 fresh baked cookies to all of Chicago PD and Chicago FD. It was an action packed, fun-filled and insanely rewarding 21 hour round trip adventure. We then ended 2019 with a special delivery on December 31st to Dayton, OH to deliver to all of Dayton PD and FD. They had a terribly rough year with the death of a DPD officer, the tornadoes, the mass shooting downtown, etc. We needed to end their year with a smile. We’d love to not only continue our local missions but to expand to allow for these annual caravans each year and to be there even more than we are now when tragedy strikes – to offer nourishment and compassion (via meals and such) when it’s needed most.
How many cookies have you served?
Over 630,000 since our start with Cookies for a Cop and our Fire Friends (now an official One Kind Cookie project). We also have our Tango Yankee Veteran project in which we deliver cookies to veterans as our thank you for all they’ve given us.
Who does One Kind Cookie assist? Why?
We deliver to law enforcement (all levels and extensions), fire service, dispatchers, correctional institutions, border patrol, veterans, K9s, mounted patrol, and more. We don’t forget those with the police and fire museums, the police and fire credit unions and those with our coroner’s office (who at one point in 2019 had to manage numerous first responder deaths in the course of less than a year). We even have our street project. With this, we hand out cookies to those we pass during our normal October campaign times. It’s a super fun way to connect with those who would normally pass by without a thought – pedestrians, construction workers, everyone! The smiles brought and the quick moment to share our mission with others makes for an added bonus to an already fun event.
How can people get involved with One Kind Cookie?
Volunteer to help deliver, be a part of our sorting event (always a need for helpers), or our special events such as our golf outing. We always need donations – funding and supplies. (Those directly connected to handling edibles must be approved for safety reasons but it is very quick and easy.)
Anything else you would like to include.
We have felt so fortunate to have been placed in a position to be able to not only have this time with our first responders each year during campaign time and during other needs times of the year but to also give an extension that allows for others to connect and be blessed in the same manner. So many want to say thank you or want to give back but never quite know how. This is your how. We’d love for you to join us and to be a part of spreading appreciation, smiles and something our world so greatly needs – kindness.
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