After this last campaign, we learned that some in various outside groups had discussed their ideas about our process here at Cookies for a Cop. They were not happy with having to gain approval and were not happy that there were specific leaders for specific departments. With this, we thought we’d take this time to give the reasons and some insight into why we feel we have the right mix to provide for the best campaign possible.
APPROVAL
The reason we are such sticklers on the approval process is because we want to make sure we are doing what we can to best protect those who protect us. We never want to encourage just anyone to walk into any law enforcement or fire department with edible items. These officers (and now firefighters) are our families. We love them. While we know this can still happen, we want protect the best we can with a campaign such as this. We want to hear directly from the departments (or another trusted leader) that you are an acceptable, trusted source for our mission. If this is something that you don’t understand or appreciate, we apologize but we are not willing to bend on this. We would shut down our annual campaign before removing this requirement.
LEADERS
Why does one person get the leader title while others who want to be involved can’t? Why can’t all approved leaders take cookies to all of the departments they want?
We have numerous reasons for these two questions.
Our departments are still a place of business. They have important work to do and we don’t want to make this a disruptive free-for-all with a rotating door of cookies that would last them the rest of the year. While they may not mind the extra goodies, we are sure that this could lead to more negatives than positives if we had 25 different people heading into a single department with huge trays of cookies on October 10th.
We need a point of contact. We need one person (or a co-leader situation) where we have one point of contact to share all updates and important news with so they can make their campaign a success and therefore, contribute to the overall success of Cookies for a Cop. There are tags to attach, numbers to submit, and a vast sharing of information. So with this, we need a point of contact.
Our leader page needs a name attached to the department so the department can refer if they’d like for safety reasons. If a department receives two (2) deliveries in one day but only *Tammy* is listed as their leader, they may (and should) question the other delivery - if made in our name. Only one person is listed as a leader for each department (unless we have a co-leader situation) and this extra level of security is in place to keep unauthorized deliveries at bay. Add in the MUST of showing ID upon delivery for a 2-step verification and we feel we’ve given the best steps we can in providing safety of the delivery.
We have prided Cookies for a Cop on the fact that we are a specific, detailed, and highly organized event. We give a great amount of time to making sure we do the best job we can. A part of being detailed and specific is being able to track where we are going, how many are leading, the incredible, mind blowing number of cookies going out, and the smiles that come back via photography and stories.
Remember, when this started? It was during a dark time for law enforcement when the media pounded with story after story of negative, negative, negative. We needed to have tangible numbers and details to get our name in the news and show OUR SUPPORT. This could not have been done without having these guidelines in place. Do you think the AP (or any media outlet for that matter) would have picked up “some people took cookies to a PD today”? No. But, they DID cover our story that with 2.5 weeks to plan, the first campaign delivered 30,000 cookies to 220 departments in 24 states. See the difference? Tangible, organized, detailed. These things matter.
Through the above items, we have built a team with a clear display of unity. While each leader presents their gift of #sweetkindness with their own personal touches, there are aspects that bring every delivery together. Aspects that we have in place for the purpose of a unified image throughout.
While we would love to have everyone on board, helping in one manner or another (leader, baker, deliveries, donations, etc), we can appreciate that this campaign may not appeal to everyone. We understand this but hope that if anything is taken from our efforts here, it is that we care and we want to be as professional as we can while serving smiles, appreciation, and kindness in a time that these things are so easily lost in society.
