With COVID-19 affecting thousands of people in the U.S, healthcare workers have continued to work long hours in order to help as many patients as possible, and their work has not gone unnoticed. 

To show their appreciation, Hershey High School senior Abby Han and her family have decided to support the workers at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center in their own way; they decided to bake cookies. 

Growing up with a father who is a surgeon at Hershey Medical Center, Han and her family have close connections to the hospital and its staff. Ever since a young age, Han and her family have participated in a tradition of baking over fifty dozen cookies to give to the medical staff each year on Christmas morning. 

With heightened appreciation and extra time on their hands, the Hans decided to engage in their baking tradition during this time of the year as well. “Our healthcare workers are superheros — no question about that — so we figured that if there was something we could do to show our appreciation, we should do it!” said Han.

The Hans baked chocolate chip cookies with M&Ms, raspberry jam thumbprint cookies, cocoa cookies with peanut butter chips, and lemon squares, the most popular baked good among the workers. 

After her father delivered the cookies to one of the hospital break rooms, Han and her family continued to receive large amounts of gratitude for their kind actions. Since the Han family baking tradition is known throughout the hospital, many staff members recognized the cookie trays and thanked Dr. Han throughout the rest of the week.

“Knowing that we were able to brighten up the days of these healthcare workers is an amazing feeling,” said Han, “They are doing so much for us right now, so baking some cookies is the least we could do!”