A Sweet Show of Support for Autism

The nonprofit ELIJA School and Foundation teams up with Brooklyn's Runner & Stone Bakery and Restaurant for the Champions of Hope Cookie Campaign, in honor of April's Autism Awareness Month.

The ELIJA School and Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of education and intervention services for individuals with autism in the Long Island and New York City areas, has teamed up with Brooklyn’s Runner & Stone Bakery and Restaurant to host a special campaign throughout April, in honor of Autism Awareness Month.

Each of the 11 cookies included in the Champions of Hope Cookie Campaign represents a child with autism. Courtesy The ELIJA School and Foundation

The Champions of Hope Cookie Campaign features 11 customized shortbread cookies and cookie cutters, each of which represents an ELIJA student. Runner & Stone’s head baker Peter Endriss will create the cookies, and then each will be individually packaged with its corresponding cookie cutter, a copy of Endriss’s own brown sugar shortbread cookie recipe, and a description about why the shape was selected for a particular child.

For example, a seagull represents Anthony because he is easy-going and free-spirited, and a butterfly represents Gianna, whose parents selected the shape for its whimsical beauty.

“All of ELIJA’s students have unique personalities that make them special, and this is what ELIJA hopes to highlight during this campaign, with the help of Chef Peter,” says Debora Thivierge, ELIJA School founder and executive director.

Cookies will be available for purchase through The ELIJA School and at Runner & Stone Bakery for the month of April. All proceeds from cookie sales will directly benefit The ELIJA School, its students, and community outreach services, including the new parental counseling group initiative planned for later this year.

“Since we just opened in December, this April is Runner & Stone’s first Autism Awareness Month and we are thrilled to be supporting an organization as wonderful as The ELIJA School and Foundation,” Endriss says. “ELIJA does amazing work with the children at the school and their outreach services for Long Island and New York City are crucial.”