The Cookie Project, cookies that change lives
- By: Auckland for Kids
- Published on:
The Cookie Project was started in 2018 by Graeme Haddon and Eric Chuah to help Kiwis with disabilities understand their own value to themselves and to society by paying them at least the minimum wage. Now you can eat cookies that not only taste good, but make you feel good too.
Employment opportunities are created for the disability community when you order cookies from The Cookie Project. To date, The Cookie Project has generated over 1,600 hours of ethical and delicious employment, paying at least the minimum adult wage of $17.70 an hour.
The Cookie Project have over 30 Kiwis with disabilities on their production roster, with an average of two job enquiries every day to be a baker with them.
Young volunteers from 6 years old also come into the kitchen, as their parents want their kids to be more inclusive and form a positive bias towards those with disabilities.
The cookies are hand made at Eat My Lunch kitchen, using only the finest ingredients like Lewis Road Creamery butter and are hand baked on demand and contain no preservatives, additives or colouring. You can choose from their signature butter cookies, peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookies, a giant jar of cookies or seasonal limited edition cookies. Gluten free options are available too.
According to Stats NZ, 1 in 4 Kiwis have a disability and their employment rate is only 22% compared with those who are non-disabled at 70%. That’s over 250,000 capable New Zealanders looking for employment. That’s where The Cookie Project comes in, they don’t ask for a resume and they don’t conduct interviews and they employ people with disabilities.
In the first 17 months, The Cookie Project was recognised with 12 awards including the Attitude ACC Employer Award for their disruptive employment framework of no resume, no interviews, pan-disability acceptance – and everyone gets to enjoy oven-fresh cookies! The Cookie Project were also finalists in the 2019 Diversity Awards which celebrates innovative responses to positive employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
You can order The Cookie Project cookies online at: https://thecookieprojectnz.com/our-cookies/
