NEWSPAPERS n o i t i d E l a i c e p S Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams continued at Corewell Health’s Beaumont Children’s Hospital through Dec. 23.
BELOW: Supporters hold up a sign for the kids. Photos by Patricia O’Blenes
DECEMBER 27, 2023 candgnews.com Oakland County papers
Love helps win the Commonwealth Club’s first cookie contest BY GENA JOHNSON gjohnson@candgnews.com
MOONBEAMS FLASHES SIGNS OF SUPPORT FOR KIDS IN HOSPITAL BY MIKE KOURY mkoury@candgnews.com
ROYAL OAK — Throughout the month of December, Corewell Health’s Beaumont Children’s Hospital has been putting on its annual Moonbeams for Sweet Dreams event. Launched in 2017, Moonbeams aims to bring the community together to show support for the children in the hospital during the holiday season by flashing lights at the hospital windows. “The community comes out and stands outside of the windows, just outside of our Beaumont Children’s Hospital, and the children look out their windows and the crowd looks up and they bring flashlights and they shine flashlights toward the children, and the kids shine back at them,” said Kathleen Grobbel, supervisor of Child Life Services and co-facilitator of Moonbeams. “It’s this really beautiful communication of the community showing support, and all these lights mean that they’re out there for the kids, saying we love you, we care about you, you’re not alone. And the kids looking out on that can See MOONBEAMS on page 5A
WARREN/MADISON HEIGHTS — On Dec. 3, about a dozen bakers showed off their best cookie recipes to a team of local media judges and a room filled with cookie lovers that bought and tasted their confections. “We’re hoping to make it annual. Some people do a cookie walk. We did a cookie contest. And next year we’re hoping to make it better,” said Jared Maynard, the public relations chair for the Commonwealth Club. Maynard came up with the idea of a cookie contest when a previously scheduled event for the club was unable to take place. “We had a hole in our schedule. We were going to do a play, and the gentleman that had the play had to have surgery,” Maynard said. “We were running around panicking. We’ve got it (the club) open. What do we do? I said, ‘Let’s have a cookie contest.’” “The Great British Club Bake Off Christmas Cookie Edition” was born. This is the official name of the contest. “The response was phenomenal. We had 12 people submit entries. We had about 20 to 25 people here in the room buying and tasting cookies,” said Maynard. Those in attendance could buy the cookies for $5 a pound. “It was fantastic,” Maynard said. Each contestant made five dozen cookies. Local journalists Charlie Langton (Fox 2 News) and Susan Smiley (The See COOKIE on page 8A