Sunday, December 18, 2011

Cookies for the Homeless - Grassroots Crisis Intervention

We were saddened to learn that there are many kids who are homeless in Howard County.  According to an Ellicott City Patch.com article the number of homeless people are growing -
in 2009 there were 174 people homeless....in 2010 there were 221 people homeless.  





Recently, we learned that our grandmother's friend was organizing people to bake holiday cookies for those homeless in our county. (That's us with our grandmother )







                                                                                               



The cookies would be delivered to the Day Resource Center in Jessup where families in need go for help.  Since homeless families don't have a home much less a kitchen to cook in, having something homebaked for the holidays would be special for them.

So, we decided to participate in this effort.  We made a video to show how easy (and fun) it is make a batch of cookies to donate.

Please consider donating something to those in need during the holiday.  If you do, let us know what you did so we can share ideas. And tell us if you have some ideas we could do to help homeless families not just at the holiday time but anytime of the year.

Here's our video -




We used our grandmother's receipe  -

Cream Cheese Cookies

1 pkg (3 oz) soft cream cheese
1 cup soft butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 sifted all-purpose flour
Sprinkles (optional)

1. Refrigerate ungreased cooke sheets until ready to use.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In large bowl, with wooden spoon, or portable electric mixer at medium speed, beat cheese, butter, sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
3. Stir in flour to make a soft dough.
4. Fill cookie press. Force dough through ribbon disk of cookie press in 2-inch strips onto cookie sheets, 1 1/2 inches apart. Optional: top with sprinkles
5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden around edges.  Remove to wire rack; cool.

For more information about the Day Resource Center, visit their website below.







Day Resource Center ( a Grassroots program)
8826 Washington Blvd.
Jessup, MD 20794
301-776-9900
* Accepts donations of men's and women's jeans (need lots of men's), t-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, sweaters, therma; underwear, heavy shoes, hats, gloves, tennis shoes, socks, underwear.   Open 3 days a week.



Rt. 1 Day Resource Center ==
Directions **Google Map**
8826 Washington Blvd., 1st Floor
Jessup, MD 20794
301.776.9900 (phone) 

Hours of Operation
Mondays, 2 to 6 p.m.
Wednesdays, 3 to 7 p.m.
Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m