Twin Valley middle-school "Cookie Bake" raises funds and ships care packages overseas

The Twin Valley School District heard Tuesday from teachers and students about the middle school's long-running seventh-grade "Cookie Bake," a community event that brings students, parents and volunteers together to bake, package and ship care packages to military families and local food banks.

"We probably average about 8,000 cookies a year," said mister Barber, a teacher who described the 25-year tradition that began in 2001 under teacher Lisa Thiry. This year, presenters said, students prepared about 115 batches of cookies; the group estimated production at roughly 7,000 cookies and about 209 participating students.

Presenters described the event as a classroom and community project: math classes calculated ingredient quantities, sign-up tools coordinated parental donations, ELL students wrote letters for packages, and a life-skills program helped deliver cookies to local recipients. Barber said the event partners with Keystone Military Families in Leesburg to distribute care packages, and staffers described receiving photos from service members abroad that showed packages arriving intact.

Organizers also raised funds to pay shipping costs. "We ended up well over $1,000 this year," Barber said, adding that excess funds support Keystone Military Families' outreach programs. Board members asked about plans to grow the event and whether curricular links (for example, science or math exercises) are formally embedded; presenters said the emphasis is on community service and learning opportunities rather than maximizing cookie counts.

The presentation closed with a slideshow of students and volunteers at work and board members expressed thanks to custodial staff and the many volunteers who staff the event. The board took no formal action on the item; presenters asked only that the board continue to permit the early dismissal the school requests for the activity day.