Help Wanted. No Experience Necessary.

Over 5,000 homes in the area surrounding St Stephen’s are receiving invitations to our 22nd Annual Cookie Walk in their mailboxes this week. Added to our faithful following from years past, we hope to attract many more of our local neighbors to kick off the Christmas season at St Stephen’s.

We certainly don’t want to disappoint all those customers, so now it’s time to “get down to brass tacks” and pull it all together. For this we need your help! Don’t know how to make a centerpiece or decorate a wreath? What better time to learn than from our Parish pros? And our Cookie Walk work days are always infused with the holiday spirit, lots of laughter, and good old fashioned fellowship.

First and foremost, of course, are the cookies. Last year we were sold out by 11:00 AM, causing more than a few customers to leave empty handed. With your help our tables will be sagging under the weight of tasty morsels of many varieties.

Remember, we have a lofty goal (and who knows about “lofty” better than an eagle?) of 1,000 pounds of cookies—that’s ten pounds from each parish family. Last year we had the best selection yet. So break out the sugar and flour, soften the butter, heat up the oven, and BAKE!

Cookies may be dropped off at the church from Tuesday, November 27th onwards

We need donations for our gift table. Check your attics, basements, closets, and cupboards for any unwanted gifts you may have tucked away because “they’re just not me.” We’ll be more than pleased to take these unwanted items off your hands—and you can feel totally guiltless knowing that they went to a good cause. We’re looking for new gift items—cosmetics, picture frames, CDs and DVDs, ornaments, anything that would make a good Christmas or holiday hostess gift. There’s a table in the Parish Hall for your donations and items are being accepted right now!

In addition to our cookies, jams, jellies, and preserves, among the favorite attractions of the Cookie Walk are our decorated wreaths, Christmas table centerpieces, and bundles of fresh greens. And now is the perfect time to prune your trees and bushes while they are dormant. We’ve always relied on your generosity—and you’ve never let us down.

We need cuttings of hollies (English, variegated, etc.), hemlock, nandina, cedar (and other aromatics), balsam, spruce, white pine, magnolia, boxwood, and Douglas and other firs (long and short needle). We also need decorative items for our wreaths and centerpieces—pine cones, bows, dried pods, and other dried items. If cutting your greens is a problem, don’t worry. We’d be only too happy to cut them for you. Call the parish office—410-560-6776—and we’ll make arrangements. Greens can be dropped off at the church any time the week before the big day.

Finally, we need volunteers—before, during, and after the Cookie Walk.

It all starts on Tuesday, November 27th, at 2:00 pm. We need folks to help get the Parish Hall in readiness for the work days on Wednesday and Thursday. We’ll be setting up tables, clearing the Sunday School room, and sorting through the mountain of decorations and craft supplies that emerge annually from the attic.

Our work days on Wednesday and Thursday, November 28th and 29th, are spent making table baskets, wreathes, and greens arrangements. We’ll begin at 10:00 AM with an evening session on Wednesday for those who’d like to work but can’t join us during the day. Don’t despair! We’re not expecting you to work from dawn to dusk! We’ll appreciate whatever time you can give us.

We will also appreciate volunteers on Friday to do the final setup for “the Big Day”. Again, we’ll start at 10:00 AM setting up tables for cookies and gifts, decorating the Parish Hall, and putting together the bags of greens.

Finally, we need lots of volunteers to work the Cookie Walk itself, and a few to stay after to help us clean up.

Sign-up sheets are on the bulletin board in the vestibule or call the parish office at 410-560-6776, Donna Szper at 410-252-1499, Stephanie Verhage at 410-667-6730, or Anne Hawkins at 410-308-2771 to volunteer. Please sign up and help us make our 21st Annual Cookie Walk the best ever. Thanks awfully!