Christmas Cookies for First Responders

​By: Rebecca Indianer
[email protected]
 
 
Christmas Cookies for First Responders is an event Rev. Eric M. Stricklin has been leading for 5 years, at 3 different churches where he served as Pastor, in Coloma, Michigan, Canton, Ohio, and now currently at St. Paul United Church of Christ in Chelsea Michigan.  Rev. Eric explains, “Christmas Cookies for First Responders is an event where on Christmas Day we deliver Christmas cookies to fire stations, police stations, EMT, and emergency room workers to thank and show support for people who are away from their families on Christmas in order to serve our community. We decorated the cookies on Christmas Eve in the St. Paul UCC Fellowship Hall. This was the event’s first year in Chelsea but we would love to have other organizations join us in the future.”  
 
Rev. Eric also shares how the event was conjured and in its 5th year of service. “The event started in a very simple way, I think 6 years ago, when my wife and I were headed to my parent’s house in Kalamazoo on Christmas morning, we saw a fire fighter hard at work shoveling snow at the fire house. It occurred to us that while we were off to spend a fun day with our families on Christmas, people like this fire fighter were working, serving the community. We stopped that day and gave the fire fighter a plate of cookies that we had in our back seat. We decided that this was something we could do every year for as many first responders as we could, and since I was a Pastor it made sense to invite the church where I was serving to get involved. The event grew, and each of the churches where we started this Christmas ministry is still doing it every year. It is very meaningful for the families who participate and for the first responders and emergency room workers. This year we made deliveries to Fire stations and police stations throughout Chelsea, Dexter, and Grass Lake, and to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Chelsea. We usually end up baking anywhere between 15 and 20 dozen cookies. That’s a lot of cookies!”
 
He adds, “I think the best part about Christmas Cookies for First Responders is the sense of community and gratitude that everyone gets to share on Christmas morning. Families who make deliveries get to offer a face to face “thank you” to the men and women who make our communities great places to live every day, and those men and women get to know how appreciated they really are. Young people especially gain a new sense of how gratitude and spreading love is what Christmas is all about! This event is so important and impactful. It is easy to get so busy this time of year that we put our heads down, check off our holiday to-do lists, and miss opportunities to express gratitude for the people who make our communities so special. This is an opportunity to pause, and celebrate selfless people who use the gifts that God gave them to make our communities safe and vibrant.”
 

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