Sweet on Catholic Education!
Searles families bake and host tenth annual "Cookie Walk" supporting Catholic schools
Searles - Most of us probably haven’t used 750 pounds of flour in baking our Christmas cookies this year. The Catholic Aid Association Council and some parishioners of St. John the Baptist Church, Searles, used that much in their week-long cookie bake during the first week of December. They baked 4,200 dozen, and upon hearing that a student said, "why, that’s a cookie for every person in Mankato!"
The members of St. John the Baptist Catholic Aid Council started the Cookie Walk ten years ago to earn money for their parochial school. Carol Waibel suggested the idea to the council after reading about a fundraiser in Midwest Living. In 1989 the members planned their first Cookie Walk, and the buyers walked from table to table, purchasing cookies. Today, the fundraiser organizers: Carol Waibel, Sherry Kuck, Lester Braulick, and Cindy Wenisch take the orders in advance, and they get them from local residents, businesses, and individuals hosting parties.
Since the Cookie Walk started in 1989, the council members have helped subsidize the New Ulm Area Catholic Schools with about $54,000 from selling cookies and from receiving matching funds from the Catholic Aid Association’s Matching Grant Program.
The Catholic Aid Association is a 122-year-old fraternal life insurance, annuity and benefit society based in St. Paul, MN. When Catholic Aid members form local councils or affiliation unite in parishes and raise funds for their Catholic schools and religious education programs, they can apply for matching funds from the Association. The funds are matched on a graduated scale. Since 1989 the Local Council from Searles has received $10,850 from Catholic Aid.