Mayor Ardell Brede proclaimed Tuesday as "Rochester Cookie Day" at the Rochester DoubleTree hotel, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the chocolate chip cookie each guest receives upon checking into the hotel.
Rochester resident Anne Holland was named the winner of the DoubleTree's cookie essay contest to benefit the Mayo Eugenio Litta Children’s Hospital, which received a check for $1,000.
Holland’s winning essay, titled "The Big White Cookie Jar," shared a story of how her mother made family and friends happy by keeping a white goose-shaped cookie jar filled with fresh chocolate chip cookies baked with love. After Holland’s mother developed Alzheimer’s, the family still helped her bake cookies.
Following her mother’s death in May 2010, Holland brought 10 dozen cookies to the wake in the same cookie jar.
"So now when I see the Big White Goose Cookie Jar on my father’s kitchen counter," Holland wrote, "I think of how my mother filled it with cookies out of love for all of us."
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Holland received a free two-night executive level stay at the Rochester DoubleTree and a $100 gift card for Pescara, a premier seafood restaurant located in the hotel.
"The Rochester DoubleTree is so appreciative of how the community responded to this fun contest with such a great cause," said Michael Smith, director of operations, Rochester DoubleTree. "The essays we received really showed that little things mean so much in life. This is an idea that drives how we treat every one of our guests."
