BOB BOUGHNER
The Daily News, Chatham

The cookie lady!

That's how dozens of John McGregor Secondary School students
affectionately refer to Beth Germs.

And for good reason - she bakes and distributes dozens of cookies every
Thursday morning to students in a church parking lot across from the
school.  Germs, a 40-year member of First Reformed Church on Lacroix Street, said she came up with the idea last November.

A large number of students patiently gathered in the parking lot yesterday
waiting to spot Germs' car.  When they spotted the vehicle, they ran toward it and quickly grabbed the freshly-baked cookies.

Germs then told students she had both some good news and bad news.

"The bad news is I'm off to Florida for two weeks,'' she said. "The good news is that Pastor Peter Burrill has offered to take over the baking for the next two weeks.'' 

Nick Clendenning, 15, a Grade 9 student, said he wished Germs was his
grandmother.  "I love her cookies,'' he said. "They're the greatest.''   Fifteen-year-old Jocelyn Marchand, a Grade 10 student, said Germs made special treats for the Thursday before Christmas.  "She brought us chocolates in neat packages,'' she said. "They were amazingly good.''  Erica Fraser, 15, a Grade 10 student, said students wait all week for the "cookie lady's visit.''

Germs said she's not quite certain how the weekly cookie baking project
came about.  "I wanted to do something for the community - to give back,'' she said. "I like baking and the students seem to enjoy my cookies.''

Lacroix Street resident Tom Burke tipped off The Daily News about the cookie lady.  "It's great knowing there are still people around like this woman,'' he said. "It a good feeling knowing there are people around with feelings.''

Burke said he noticed a commotion in the parking lot of the church next to his home in early December.  "Students were coming from all directions towards the back entrance of the church and were crowding around a blonde lady who was distributing homemade cookies.''  He said he discovered that students were often gathering in the church parking lot at break time and were often shooed away.
Burke said he discovered that Germs didn't think it was fair to the kids who generally were behaving and hoped some kindness might go a long way.  "That's when she began her weekly routine of handing out freshly-baked cookies,'' he said.  Burke said each week the number of students turning out to meet the cookie lady is getting larger and larger.  "The greatest thing of all is that students are showing respect along with their huge smiles,'' he said.