hearts for children and cookies for you

Glad to see everyone on the back side of  the deadly trio of Martin Luther King, Junior Day, the Presidential Inauguration AND my birthday. The next big holiday to get behind us is Valentine's Day. I put "mid-century" and "valentine" into Google. The most charming images appear.

Red Olivetti Valentine Mid Century typewriter courtesy of eBay Seller  powercameras77777

Did you know there is a whole sub-culture of people who collect typewriters and obsess about typewriter fonts? I Dream Lo Tech is devoted to such concerns and is seriously quite an interesting read.

Another thing, Valentine's Day is NOT, contrary to popular belief, Hallmark holiday. In fact, it is linked to ancient pagan festivals having to do with fertility, and then eventually associated with Catholic saint(s). Historians think Valentine's cards were exchanged as far back as the middle ages.

My friend, Karen Pederson, celebrates Valentine's Day in a unique way. Event better, she is just as mid-century as they come.

Check out that cute little white apron and red blouse with the gathered fifties sleeves.This is the third year that Karen will be baking and selling cookies in order to raise money for her two favorite children's charities: Royal Family Kids and  Caring for China's Children. 

Karen got this idea two year's ago when the pastor at her church, St. Andrews Presbyterian, in Newport Beach, challenged the congregation to spark a movement of generosity to impact people's lives positively.

Karen thought and she thought and she considered the fact that she loves to cook and she adores children. She spends every summer volunteering at the Royal Family Kids' Camp, which works towards improving the lives of abused and neglected children. And Karen has a special place in her heart for China's abandoned boys and girls.

That is when Karen hit on it. Cookies! Heart shaped cookies and brownies. Every year, about this time, she reaches out to family and friends to purchase her delicious cookies to support these children's charities. She named her endeavor Hearts for Children. Clever girl.

I have quizzed Karen on the secret of her perfect cookies. Karen swears it is all in the ingredients. She shops carefully for the best flour, the finest vanilla and of course only the most perfect semi-sweet chocolate.

A white stove of course. None of that trendy stainless for Karen.

I would love to share her recipes, but in my two years of helping her, I have never seen her pull out or refer to a recipe  She does it by heart (of course). This isn't so amazing considering last year she made 125 dozen cookies and brownies.

She always packs the cookies in cute containers, whatever she can find with hearts on them or heart-shaped. Frankly, not a heart container can be found within twenty miles of her house during her one week bake-off.

Yum. And, lovingly wrapped. What an adorable and thoughtful gift for that special someone.

Kind of makes your mouth water doesn't it? The prices are super reasonable at only $15 a dozen, plus shipping, if you live outside the Orange County, California area.

Learn more about Karen's passion for children, God and cooking by watching this video her church put together. Karen's story is about halfway through the video. Right after the cute obviously not mid-century teenager.

Karen made $2,800 last year which was split between her two selected charities. She donates all the ingredients, packaging and her time. All you have to do to get or give these lovely treats, is donate a tiny bit of money. Karen is HAPPY to ship to anywhere in the United States and Canada. And, if you blow the doors off with a ton of orders, she has plenty of Valentine's elves who will gladly work side by side with her. These are problems we like to have.

She asks that you get your order in before February 7 in order to get it baked and shipped before Valentine's Day. So what do you say? It's a win-win. Hearts for Children. 

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