Cookies and Prison

A couple of weeks ago my Uncle Wayne asked our entire family if we would be willing to help make cookies to give to the inmates at the local minimum security prison. He does church services every Sunday at the Prison and has handed out cookies during Christmas for a couple of years. After I accepted to help make cookies, I was given the amount to make. I was in charge of 18 dozen cookies. Wow, I thought, that was a lot of cookies. So, I started baking, and baking. It actually didn't take me as long as I thought it would. It was also fun making it for this purpose. My Aunt Tami told us a funny story about her cookie baking experience. My cousin Nic was asking his mom and dad to take him to Walmart to spend some money he had. His dad told him that he couldn't because he had other things he was doing, so he went to his mom and asked her. She told him no because she was making cookies. He was very angry at this and replied "This is just great, now I am second to prisoners in this family!" And he was serious my Aunt Tami said. I thought that was cute. Hayden didn't mind licking the mixers either! Mike, my Uncle Wayne, my Aunt Tami, and I got the privilege to take the cookies to the prison and hand them out to the inmates. I had been to the prison before in my previous life as a Social Worker before Hayden came along, so I was familiar with the culture of it a little bit, but it was the first time for Mike, so I am glad he was able to come along. I can't even tell you how many cookies we had. My Uncle estimated 6000 cookies. There was box after box of cookies. I tried to snap a few pictures of us loading the cookies into the Prison, but it was such a whirlwind once we got there because there were people waiting for us and once past the gates I was not allowed to bring my camera. I wish I could have because I would have been able to get some great pictures. We gave the cookies to the inmates after they had eaten their dinner. We were in the mess hall while they were eating, so that was interesting. All of the inmates were very grateful for the cookies. Over all it was an awesome experience that I was glad to be a part of. We even were treated to a prison meal after we were all done. It wasn't a gourmet meal by any means but it wasn't too bad. The best part of the meal was watching my Aunt Tami eat it, because she wasn't too excited at the aspect of eating at the prison. I know I wasn't in charge of this, but I wanted to thank all of the family members who made cookies for this because your hard work in making the cookies really made the inmates day... and mine!