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Cathy Foley, the move-in coordinator for Bristol Glen in Newton, New Jersey and avid cookie baker, was recently inspired by a story that she saw on television about a local pizza shop owner that offered free pizza to police officers in September. “I thought to myself that it was such a lovely gesture and that if I had my dream of owning a cookie shop, I would bake cookies for cops and do the same,” Foley exclaimed. She even came up with a clever name (Cookies for Cops) for her endeavor.
While owning a cookie shop isn’t in her immediate plans, she decided she could still implement her idea by baking cookies and utilizing her personal contacts to distribute the goodies to local law enforcement agencies throughout New Jersey and New York during November.
Her employer, Bristol Glen, embraced the “Cookies for Cops” idea and offered to be the initial host location. On November 5, the Newton, Hopatcong, and Sparta police departments along with the Sussex County Sheriff’s Office visited the senior living community to receive their specialty handmade treats. It proved to be the perfect partnership as the residents lined up to greet the officers and personally thank them for their service.
The key to the program’s success has been partnering and working with a specific contact within each department. This has prompted Foley’s initiative to quickly become a family affair. Her brother in-law was recruited to deliver trays to the “gang unit” of the New York Police Department (NYPD) Staten Island precinct where he used to work, while Foley’s future son in-law (a police officer in Riverdale, New Jersey) assisted her in delivering cookies to three departments in his area.
Foley has been baking cookies since she was 12 years old. Her most popular cookie among her critics has been the Pecan Delight (a nut-filled shortbread cookie rolled in powdered sugar). Brownie Fingers and the ever popular Chocolate Chip cookies are also hits with her cookie connoisseurs.
To date, Foley has made 20 trays of cookies (40 pounds) for the area law enforcement agencies. She is scheduled to present an additional 13 platters of her treats to area departments by the end of the month. Cookie platters will be delivered to the following police departments this week: Mt. Olive; Wanaque; Denville; Rockaway; Roxbury; N. Plainfield and New York.
To learn more about Foley’s “Cookies for Cops” campaign, contact Cathy Foley at (973) 300-5788 ext. 1105 or via email at cfoley@nullbristolglen.org. To see additional photos of the agencies that have benefitted from her generosity, view “Cathy’s Cookies” on Facebook.
