Good Samaritan Cookie Walk

Good Samaritan Catholic Church held their fifth annual “Cookie Walk” on December 16 and 17. The event was previously held in the church fellowship area, but due to the renovations, this year’s cookie walk was held at the Ellijay Civic Center. Proceeds benefit the church renovations. There were approximately 160 varieties of cookies which were all homemade by church parishioners. This year’s nearly 20,000 cookies surpassed last year’s 17,000. The majority of the church members participated in the event, whether it was by baking or helping set up and facilitate the cookie walk at the Civic Center.

The parishioners wanted to make the cookie walk more of a community event rather than something where people just walk around, get cookies and then would go on their way. This year, lunch and free coffee was available with seating for patrons to relax for awhile. There were door prizes every hour and Christmas item raffles and items for sale.

Patrons could take a guess at number of M&Ms in a jar or participate in a “secret auction.” Local merchants, including Loews, Ruby Tuesday, The Alley, East Towne Cinemas and IHOP donated items for the secret auction.

The event and attendance has steadily grown over the years. People drove from towns across the northern part of Georgia to attend the cookie walk. A family from Mississippi attended this year also.

Organizer of the cookie walk, Laura Nizinski, was pleased with the large turnout this year.