AUBURN - The Incredible Christmas Cookie Sale made its debut Saturday morning, with trays of tempting treats waiting at the United Church of Auburn to be carted home and tasted.
A battery of volunteer bakers, 20 to 25 strong, whipped up 10 to 12 dozen each of their favorite Christmas cookies to be sold at $6 a pound.
“I bet there are a couple of hundred dozen selling by the pound,” Sharon Campanelli, the fundraiser's organizer, said. “Various churches across the country are doing it.”
Campanelli said she first got the idea for the cookie sale from an article she had seen in a newspaper.
All the bakers are church members who volunteer to bake the cookies at home and donate the ingredients, so the church makes 100 percent profit from the project, she said.
Funds will be used to sponsor a number of church events, such as Christian education, workshops and Bible study.
Volunteers dropped off their cookies at the church on Metcalf Drive 8:30 a.m.
Although the sale was advertised to begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, people were already lining up for cookies by 8:40 a.m., helper Diane McNabb said.
“One woman who works in an office here said, ‘I came here to see the Awesome Church Ladies,'” McNabb said.
Her response was, “And don't forget the cookies made with love.”
The church provided boxes for the cookies.
“I couldn't get the boxes together fast enough,” she said. “Some of the customers were putting the boxes together by themselves.”
“You can't stop them when they come in here,” Campanelli said. “It's like a garage sale.”
By 10 a.m. the frenzy had subsided, although there were still enough cookies left with a wide variety to choose from and a handful of customers continuing to arrive.
Hazel Cook, Beverly Larkin, and her granddaughter, Caitlin Van Benschoten, 2, of Auburn, were still gathering sweets. Joshua Herrick, 4, of Throop, helped his grandmother, Angela Morgan, also of Auburn, pick a few.
Tom Colvin, of Auburn, was also browsing at the cookie tables that were set up in the back of the church. “I'm going to try to buy three pounds if I can,” he said.
At 11 a.m. five heaping plates of cookies still stood on the table. Jeff Sinn and Cheryl Vecchio of Syracuse, who had come to the church for another event, stopped in to look and got some cookies for half price at $3 a pound.
“The cranberry orange biscotti, mini cheese cakes, thumbprints, Italian cookies, and Russian teacakes were our best sellers,” Campanelli said, although she added that they were all very good.
By 11:30 a.m. about 500 dozen cookies had been sold, according to Campanelli, and she said the sale would continue until all of the cookies were gone.
With two dozen or so cookies in a pound, depending on the size, that adds up to a sweet pot of dough for the church's coffers. People planning to buy their cookies at the Incredible Christmas Cookie Sale next year had better stop by early.
Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net
“I bet there are a couple of hundred dozen selling by the pound,” Sharon Campanelli, the fundraiser's organizer, said. “Various churches across the country are doing it.”
Campanelli said she first got the idea for the cookie sale from an article she had seen in a newspaper.
All the bakers are church members who volunteer to bake the cookies at home and donate the ingredients, so the church makes 100 percent profit from the project, she said.
Funds will be used to sponsor a number of church events, such as Christian education, workshops and Bible study.
Volunteers dropped off their cookies at the church on Metcalf Drive 8:30 a.m.
Although the sale was advertised to begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, people were already lining up for cookies by 8:40 a.m., helper Diane McNabb said.
“One woman who works in an office here said, ‘I came here to see the Awesome Church Ladies,'” McNabb said.
Her response was, “And don't forget the cookies made with love.”
The church provided boxes for the cookies.
“I couldn't get the boxes together fast enough,” she said. “Some of the customers were putting the boxes together by themselves.”
“You can't stop them when they come in here,” Campanelli said. “It's like a garage sale.”
By 10 a.m. the frenzy had subsided, although there were still enough cookies left with a wide variety to choose from and a handful of customers continuing to arrive.
Hazel Cook, Beverly Larkin, and her granddaughter, Caitlin Van Benschoten, 2, of Auburn, were still gathering sweets. Joshua Herrick, 4, of Throop, helped his grandmother, Angela Morgan, also of Auburn, pick a few.
Tom Colvin, of Auburn, was also browsing at the cookie tables that were set up in the back of the church. “I'm going to try to buy three pounds if I can,” he said.
At 11 a.m. five heaping plates of cookies still stood on the table. Jeff Sinn and Cheryl Vecchio of Syracuse, who had come to the church for another event, stopped in to look and got some cookies for half price at $3 a pound.
“The cranberry orange biscotti, mini cheese cakes, thumbprints, Italian cookies, and Russian teacakes were our best sellers,” Campanelli said, although she added that they were all very good.
By 11:30 a.m. about 500 dozen cookies had been sold, according to Campanelli, and she said the sale would continue until all of the cookies were gone.
With two dozen or so cookies in a pound, depending on the size, that adds up to a sweet pot of dough for the church's coffers. People planning to buy their cookies at the Incredible Christmas Cookie Sale next year had better stop by early.
Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net
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