Cookies for Caregivers

08/11/2024

An amazing visit with these special people.

WHAT AN AWESOME VISIT we had yesterday, with the distribution of 37 dozen homemade cookies to staff through Cookies for Caregivers, a community initiative started up by Syracuse native Scott McKenzie and his friend Jeremy Uhrich in 2020. Now living in Pennsylvania, Scott and a team of volunteers visit hospitals weekly to thank healthcare staff for the important work they do (they call this expanding their ‘hug radius’). The program has grown since Scott started it, with national exposure on the Today Show, Rachel Ray and People magazine. Many thanks to Crouse surgeon and board member Tom Hartzheim, MD, who arranged the cookie distribution. He and Scott have been best friends since they were six years old! Many thanks to Scott, Dr. Hartzheim and Cookies for Caregivers…let’s just say there were a lot of happy smiles around here yesterday!

12/12/2022

We will be creating a new list of our active groups and will post this list in the next day or so. If you find a group that is close to you, please reach out and join. If there is not a group close to you, please consider starting one and enjoy the fruits and benefits of helping your community grow closer together.

12/12/2022

We are thrilled and humbled by the commitment of NBC News to help share our story. Little acts of kindness can make a big difference.

In Scott McKenzie and Jeremy Uhrich’s central Pennsylvania kitchen, baking and delivering cookies is a year-round labor of love for the two friends. McKenzie and Uhrich are the founders of “Cookies for Caregivers,” an organization dedicated to giving freshly baked treats to hometown heroes. Th...

12/12/2022

It’s an honor to serve our hometown heroes that work at Penn Highlands Healthcare Huntingdon.

Penn Highlands Huntingdon is honored to receive weekly cookie deliveries as part of the Cookies for Caregivers initiative. Thank you! https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/honoring-hometown-heroes-with-fresh-cookies-157137477909

06/05/2022

Great words of wisdom

03/25/2022

Jeremy reported to you all yesterday that we have hit quite a milestone with our 7000th dozen (that’s not a typo - 7000 dozen) batch of cookies delivered to our wonderful Huntingdon community.
That is truly amazing.
I wanted to add that we are also about to pass another milestone as we finish our second year of expanding our hug radius and go forward into our third year.
When asked “how on Earth have you been able to keep this going?”, I simply say that we are a reflection of our community and our values and the care that we can choose to show each other. I am still moved by the emotion that is shown when someone feels appreciated and recognized as having value within our community.
Happy Birthday Cookies for Caregivers. Thank you to our wonderful partners across the country. Thank you to those who help us carry the Banner of Kindness to their own communities. Our Hug Radius is wide and our Kindness has no expiration date.
Here’s to year three.

02/22/2022

For all of you who ordered merchandise, we are shipping tomorrow via USPS. Jeremy or I will be reaching out with tracking numbers. Thanks for all of the orders and enjoy the Cookies for Caregivers merch. !!

12/22/2021

This evening, Jeremy and I were invited to attend the final Borough Council Meeting of the year. We were humbled to receive this recognition on behalf of the wonderful Cookies for Caregivers organization. We have always maintained that we are but a reflection of the communities that we represent. I love this town and am so very proud and humbled to be associated with the outstanding folks that make up Cookies for Caregivers.

11/27/2021

There is much truth here.

“Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.

But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.

A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said.

We are at our best when we serve others.”

Credit: Ira Byock