By Georgianna & Sarah Blosch
The GAP Cookie Contest is a highly competitive event where graduates and professionals from all different backgrounds compete for the honorable title of best cookie. Many Northstar GAP members participated with a total of 16 entries, each cookie characterized by unique flavors and colors. The contest judging was difficult and not for the faint of heart but in the end a decision was reached. Betsy Claunch stole the coveted cookie contest prize with her cheesecake cookies much to Viktor’s great disappointment.
All of the cookies are photographed and published in a recipe book. You can get your very own copy here: GAP Cookie Book Download
Although the competition was tough and stakes were high, the real meaning behind this cookie-based gathering was far more than an intense sugar rush: we wanted to reach out to the community.
This year the cookie committee decided to focus on a new outreach population: graduate students. Each cookie contest entrant was asked to donate four dozen sugar-filled delights, two for the contest and two to distribute to our fellow hard-working (or hardly working?) graduate students. With bellies full of simple carbs and high on sugar, the members of GAP packed up baggies of cookies labeled with a Bible verse, Joshua 1:9, and distributed them to lab mates and at the Graduate Life Center for coffee hour. The cookies were a hit as the GAP website saw peak numbers and new faces came to GAP.
This experience, as it involved sugar, was naturally fun but it was also humbling to see how something so simple could have such an impact. Members of GAP were able to see smiles light up on the faces of cookie recipients and walk away with the hopes of a lasting impact being made. God uses even the smallest detail to make himself known, and there is no doubt that he can use something so simple as a cookie to spread His unending love to others.
