Kairos has often been referred to as the “cookie ministry”.  Homemade cookies are a small thing to us on the outside, but to someone who has been incarcerated for a long time, they are priceless.  The fact that someone cared enough to actually bake a cookie for them is very profound.  The Kairos team uses these cookies to help show the love of Christ and of their outside brothers and sisters in Christ to the residents.

 

It takes a LOT of cookies for a weekend.  Each Kairos weekend at Toledo Correctional requires from 5,000 to 6,000 dozen homemade cookies. Yep, you read that right.  Between 60,000 to 72,000 homemade cookies! It is simply impossible for the team to bake this many cookies.  So, we rely on our brothers and sisters in Christ from our churches, neighborhoods and place of work to bake them.  It is a chance for many people to have a very real and important role in a ministry that will change lives and bring many of the residents to Christ. 

 

As you might, expect – there are a lot of rules and details related to the cookies, as explained below: 

 

What kind of cookies can you bake for Kairos?

• Only home-baked cookies are used.  Cookie mixes, pre-mixed cookie dough from your supermarket, or “frozen cookie balls” from food wholesalers like Gordon’s are all OK.
• Chocolate chip, oatmeal, cookies with M&M’s, butterscotch bits, plain sugar cookies, Rice Krispie Treats or Snickerdoodles are all easy to make and popular.
• No icing or powdered sugar is allowed
• Try to get them between 2 and 3 inches in diameter, so that the cookies are the same for everyone who receives cookies.
• Don’t over bake cookies.  They will be handled many times and transported in bulk into the prison so they need to be a bit tougher and durable than your average cookie.  If you over bake them, they will become brittle and may break.
• Please don’t use burned or blemished cookies.
• If your cookies contain peanut butter or nuts of any kind, please CLEARLY LABEL the bag
• If your cookies are gluten free or sugar free, please CLEARLY LABEL the bag

 

How should the cookies be packaged?

• Package 2 dozen cookies in each 1 gallon zip-lock.  Please count your cookies carefully so they won’t have to be re-bagged.
• Allow cookies to cool completely before bagging them, otherwise they may stick together a and become useless.
• Don’t put notes or plates in the bag, or sticky notes on the bag – ONLY cookies.  We’ll have to remove everything else before they can go into the prison.
• If you have made your cookies well in advance of the weekend, keep them frozen until you transport them to your Kairos volunteer. 

What else?  PRAY.  Pray as you bake the cookies, pray for the inmates who will eat them and for the team who will take them inside the prison.  Your prayers are a very important part of this experience for the inmates. 

 

If you would be willing to help bake cookies for the next Kairos weekend at Toledo Correctional, please email our COOKIE MONSTER at "cookies@kairostoledo.com" and let him know.  He will respond with the particulars of when and where the cookies need to be delivered.

 

 

 

Various documents for ToCI Kairos volunteers

 

Volunteer application

Advisory Council position descriptions

Responsibilities of ALL team members

Statistics on the Kairos Toledo volunteer base

Statistics on the Kairos Toledo graduates

Kairos Toledo "PKV" form

Green agape brochure

Kairos Ohio policy on volunteer behavior

ODRC Standards of Conduct for Contractors, Volunteers and Interns

ToCI Kairos information brochure

Reimbursement / check request form - "pdf" version

Reimbursement / check request form - "Excel" version

Policy on particicpation by ex-offenders

Team contact info for "the weekend"

Prison vocabulary

 

 

 

Testimonies from some who have experienced the Kairos ministry

"I Can Only Imagine" by Butch Blankenship

 

 

How does a Kairos weekend affect those incarcerated men and women who attend?  Below are some of their comments:

·         "It's going to take MANY phone calls to explain THIS."

·         "For the first time in my life, I'm experiencing true love and it's amazing."

·         "We are the BADDEST the State of Ohio has to offer, and we're here crying like babies."

·         "Y'all love me and you don't know me from a can of paint."

·         "We've got to spread this, even in the madness that is ToCI"

·         Muslim that grew up Christian: "I'm coming back. I'm coming BACK!"

·         "The last couple days were the best I ever slept since I got locked up."

·         "I never thought I could feel so much emotion for a room full of men."

·         “I came into the weekend upset, no hope and in pain. I’m taking away peace of mind, joy and Jesus.”

·         “I’m glad I was incarcerated here at Ohio Reformatory for Women. Otherwise I might not have found Jesus.”

·         “Jesus and my Kairos Prayer and Share Group are my lifeline.”

·         “Prior to coming to Kairos, I was on life support.”

·         “I had a wall around me that I didn’t even know about, and Kairos helped me start breaking down my wall.”

·         “The judge gave me a life sentence; Jesus gave me a life contract.”

·         “There’s a whole lot of love in those letters and cookies.”

·         “After Kairos I’m all the way on God’s team.”

·         “You have not only loved us unconditionally, but treated us with utmost respect.”

·         “What I learned at Kairos is that God doesn’t hate me, He just hates my sins; the volunteers taught me that he is a forgiving God—–no matter what.”

·         “Coming into my Kairos weekend, I was angry and hateful, which made me miserable; the weekend changed my attitude and I am going to study the Bible to continue transforming me.”

·         “Kairos opened doors that I thought I lost the keys to; I am going to let God work in my life a day at a time.”

·         “I was a Satanist and Arian Nation leader in this prison up until I accepted Jesus as my savior 4 months ago.  This Kairos weekend has moved me to love people and to proclaim Jesus to other inmates.”

 

Links to other Kairos web sites

Kairos Prison Ministry International

My Kairos (information for Kairos volunteers)

Kairos Ohio

Kairos at Toledo Correctional Facebook page

 

 

Local churches represented by the ToCI Kairos volunteers

1st Church of Amboy	King of Kings Lutheran  (Ann Arbor, MI)
1st Missionary Baptist	King's Church (Arcadia, OH)
1st Presbyterian (Antwerp, OH)	King's Parish (Arcadia, OH)
1st Presbyterian (Bryan)	Life Changing Realities Fellowship
Calvary Assembly of God (Toledo)	Lockport Mennonite Church
Cedar Creek	Maumee UMC
Central Mennonite (Archbold)	Monroe Street UMC (Toledo)
Central Park Congregational Church	New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church
Christ the Word  (Sylvania)	New Hope Community Church (Bryan)
Church 321 (Sylvania)	Peace Menonite Fellowship (Archbold)
Church of the Nazarene (Bowling Green)	Pettisville Missionary Chruch
Community House Church (Toledo)	Redemption Church  (Monclova)
Compelled Church	Shiloh Christian Union Church (Delta)
Crossroads	Soma City Church (Toledo)
Dillon Rd Baptist (Fostoria)	St Pius
Epworth UMC (Toledo)	St. Michael's Catholic Church  (Hicksville, OH)
Experience Church (Bryan)	St. Michael's Lutheran Church (Ottawa Lake, MI)
First Alliance (Toledo)	Trinity United Brethren
Five Lakes Church (Sylvania)	Victory Barn (Edgerton, OH)
Gateway Baptist Church	West Clinton Mennonite
Grace Church (Perrysburg)	Westgate Chapel (Toledo)
Grace Community (Bryan)	Worship Center (Toledo)
Immanuel Lutheran Church	Zion United Methodist

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video clips explaining more about Kairos

 

How to get involved with Kairos at Toledo Correctional

Location of Toledo Correctional

 

Please complete and submit the contact form below, and someone from Kairos Toledo will contact you soon.

 

Your Name:
Phone:
E-mail:

How would you like to help ? (Please check one)
       Serve on a Kairos team
       Bake cookies
       Pray
       Color/decorate paper placemats
       Write letters to the men on the next Kairos weekend
       Make a poster for the next Kairos weekend
       Help financially

Your comments:

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For other Kairos and "street weekend" communities, an agape letter form our Kairos community for your weekends can be downloaded via the link below:

Kairos Toledo agape

 

If you would like to send agape to our Kairos community, please email it to:

agape@kairostoledo.com