CLEVELAND — Renee Baker loves making cookies.

“I love cookies. A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand,” Baker said.

What You Need To Know

  • The original "Cookies for Caregivers" Facebook page started in Pennsylvania as a way to say thank you to health care workers during the pandemic

  • The group has gained national recognition and cities around the country have formed their own chapters of "Cookies for Caregivers"

  • The Cleveland chapter of "Cookies for Caregivers" formed at the end of December and has since distributed thousands cookies to health care workers and first responders in the area

Her husband, Paul Codispoti, thinks a little differently.

“Renee was saying how much she enjoys baking cookies, and that was like a Tuesday I think, and I said that’s fine but if you make cookies, you have to get rid of them. Otherwise, I sit here and eat them,” Codispoti said.

Shortly after that conversation, the couple learned about the “Cookies for Caregivers” group on Facebook.

"It was the perfect coincidence. Here’s the solution. It's like you bake, and we give them away to whomever as far as caregivers go. And it has just worked out perfectly.”

Across the country, there are several different chapters of “Cookies for Caregivers.”

This couple started the Cleveland chapter during the last week of December.

"The first time we decided to do it, we didn’t have any other bakers, so I baked 32 dozen cookies in one afternoon. So, I made dough one day and baked all the next day.”  

Since then, the Cleveland-based group has grown significantly and has dozens of bakers working to make cookies for health care heroes and first responders

"It’s just been snow balling since then we got probably 20 people now that bake and in a month we have done over four thousand cookies," said Codispoti.

All of the cookies get dropped off to the couple's house in Cleveland during the week. Then they distribute them on Friday.

"I find that when people come to the door and I take the cookies and say 'thank you," and they say, 'No, thank you' you can just tell from their hearts that this means a lot to them and it is special to them," Baker said.

Even though the couple spends a countless amount of time every week making and distributing the cookies, they say they wouldn’t have it any other way.

"It’s been great because you know the first time we went to metro they were so excited, so excited, they were bouncing all over the place like, 'Look at all these cookies!' So, it does make you feel really good,” said Baker.

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