This is What Love Can Do
Valentine's Day holds different meaning for different people. For our Cookies for Kids' Cancer team, February 14th marks a special place on the calendar, and it's meaning is rooted in love.
Love Like Liam
If you're just finding us, Cookies was originally inspired by our co-founders' son Liam Witt - Liam lost his battle to a pediatric cancer called neuroblastoma at just 6 1/2 years old on January 24, 2011. His celebration of life was held on February 14, 2011. It was there that his Mom (and our co-founder Gretchen) challenged attendees and really, the larger global community, to Love Like Liam. Gretchen's hope was to leave people with a message they would remember that captured the essence of a little boy who touched so many and the essence of the day those words were being delivered: Valentine’s Day.
The ending of Liam's eulogy remained unwritten for days. The words just wouldn't come. She accepted that, some things take time and, with that, sometimes all you wish you had was time. Then, like a rush, those three simple words, Love Like Liam, popped into her head and instantly she knew the message she wanted to impart, as one chapter closed and another began. A chapter that, at the time, seemed unimaginable.
A Legacy Unfolds
And, here we are today in 2024 - that legacy continuing to unfold. Yes, inspired by Liam, yet also equally inspired by all the other children that the inconceivable journey through pediatric cancer effects each and every day. Today at Cookies, the unimaginable ironically has influenced a very tangible and imaginable vision, that NO family is ever told, "We have run out of options." - With cancer still, this may years later, the #1 disease killer of children in the U.S. we are as motivated as ever in our mission to develop new, improved, and less toxic treatments for pediatric cancer.
Together We Can
There are more than a dozen major types of childhood cancers, and each is as unique as the child fighting it. Two thirds of childhood cancer survivors suffer long-term side effects — a result of the treatments that “cured” them. With 400,000+ new cases of cancer affecting children worldwide annually, we still have a lot of work to do. That 'we', very much includes you...and we could not be more grateful you have found us and joined us on this determined ride.
Share the Love
We are about one thing: funding the most promising research that will make it from a lab to a child’s bedside in the shortest amount of time possible. Our commitment to this is unwavering. With your help, to date we have funded over $21,000,000 of critical pediatric cancer research.
With that, we continue to march forward towards our vision with that original message of love driving us. On this designated month of love, there are three ways you can help now in pursuit of our mission:
1) Share the Message ... of Cookies for Kids' Cancer and keep up with our progress. Awareness is important. You can find us on social media: Instagram / Threads / X (aka Twitter) / Facebook / LinkedIn / TikTok
2) Share the Love ... Did you know you can make a donation to the cause, have cookies sent to your Valentine AND share the message at the same time? Check out our LIMITED cookies: Our Share the Love Gift Box comes with a half dozen special cookies and the most perfect OXO cookie baking spatula around. Our Share the Love DIY Kit is the coolest way to create a purpose driven Valentine - it comes with either 24 (perfect for a child's class) or 48 individually wrapped cookies and supplies to create meaningful Valentine’s Day gifts to give out.
3) Share the Ways to Get Involved ... with your BFF and register to host your own bake sale or event today. When you register, we help every step of the way.
The Meaning is in the Message
So, as we move through this month of love in our own ways, we leave you with this from Gretchen:
"I have to share something with you, it doesn’t get any easier. I miss Liam today as much as I missed him on January 24th when he left this world. But, for me at least, it helps knowing that the work we are doing, by funding research to benefit other kids, is the one thing I can do to honor him. As many people who know me have heard me say, I am quite confident I will see him again. And oh, I can’t wait for that day. And I know we are going to spend so much time hugging each other and rubbing noses with me kissing every inch of that sweet face. But I also know that Liam will have one question on his mind and only one question: Did we make it better for others? I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that would be his expectation…that if we could do something to help, we did…one Good Cookie at a time."
