The Family Promise Christmas Cookie Sale returns to the New Hope Church Life Center on Saturday, December 12, and Sunday, December 13. Homemade cookies by the pound, crafts from local makers, a Christmas bazaar and a raffle, with the proceeds going to Family Promise of Hillsborough County.
Two ways to take part: bake for it, or come and shop.
Do you bake?
Every cookie on those tables is homemade and donated. Members of New Hope and bakers from several area churches fill the room each year, and the sale only happens if the tables are full.
Bake a batch or two of whatever you do well. Chocolate chip, shortbread, snickerdoodles, gingerbread, the recipe your family asks for every December.
Drop off Friday, December 11, between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM at the Life Center Community Room, 213 N Knights Avenue.
Please label each container clearly for dietary needs: gluten free, contains nuts, dairy. Shoppers buying for someone with an allergy depend on those labels.
Christmas shopping?
Come by either day.
Saturday, December 12, 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Sunday, December 13, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM
New Hope Church Life Center, 213 N Knights Avenue, Brandon
Cookies are sold by the pound and boxed, so you can fill one for your own table or put together an assortment to give away. Local makers will have craft tables set up, and the Christmas bazaar and raffle run both days.
On Sunday morning the Military Mailout is working in the same building. Buy a second box of cookies, drop it at the mailout table, and it goes into a care package for a deployed service member.
Where the money goes
Proceeds support Family Promise of Hillsborough County, which has worked with local families since 2014. They serve families with school-age children who are facing eviction or have already lost their housing. The aim is to keep those children in their own schools while the parents get back into housing and work. A stabilization coach stays with each family for up to a year, sometimes longer, helping with employment, finances, budgeting, transportation and child care.
Edwina Reddick, their executive director, puts it this way: "I have seen families walk through our doors feeling hopeless and uncertain about their future and leave not only with keys in their hands but with renewed hope."
Bake if you can. Come shop either way. We will see you at the Life Center.