Senator Ronda Storms (District 10) is hosting her fifth annual holiday cookie exchange on Friday, December 17, at the All Person’s Rotary Park in Brandon. Ladies are asked to bring two dozen cookies – one to share and one to exchange.

Some holiday traditions include putting up a tree, mistletoe, stockings, candy canes, poinsettias, cards and more. Senator Ronda Storms, from District 10, which includes Brandon, has started her own holiday tradition- a cookie exchange.  
Each year, the senator gathers with a group of women to exchange cookies and discuss the goings-on in the Florida Senate.
This year marks the fifth year of the annual holiday cookie exchange and it will be held on Friday, December 17, at 11:30 a.m. at All Person’s Rotary Park on Parsons Ave. in Brandon.
Ladies are asked to bring two dozen cookies to the event – one dozen to share and one dozen to exchange.
As for the cookies you can expect the senator to make, “Ronda’s daughter normally creates the recipes, but they have made peppermint cookies and fudge in the past.” commented Storms’ Legislative Aide Beth Sutkowy.
Guests are encouraged to bring their children to the park, located at 800 S. Parsons Ave. in Brandon, where they can play on the All Person’s Playground. “Kids are welcome and normally love the exchange part,” Sutkowy said.
 Every year depends, but normally between 15 and 30 women attend the cookie exchange. FishHawk resident Kerrie Hoening attends the cookie exchange every year, “because it’s a unique opportunity to meet with her on a very personal level and hear about the issues our state is currently facing.”
“It’s not too often that you find a public servant, like Senator Storms, who makes themselves so accessible to the people, so I like to take advantage of the opportunity to enjoy cookies with her and really hear first-hand what she is trying to do to make my community a better place to live,” she said.
Storms has been a Florida state Senator since 2006, prior to that she was a member of the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) from 1998-2006.
For more information on the cookie exchange, please call Storms’ Brandon office, located in the Lithia Oaks Business Center at 421 Lithia Pinecrest Rd. in Brandon, at 651-2189 or e-mail storms.ronda.web@flsenate.gov.

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Jennifer Silverstein
Jennifer is the Assistant Editor at the Osprey Observer, having climbed the corporate ladder from intern in 2007. She graduated from the University of South Florida with a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications. She lives in Channing Park with her husband, Eric, and their two dogs.