AUSTIN, Texas — Most middle schoolers spend their summer vacations worrying about when they'll be able to see their friends next.
But for one Hutto teen, she wanted to make sure front-line workers were taken care of ... now more than ever.
It's her summer project.
Samantha Martinez called it "cookies for kindness."
"For me, one batch makes about 50 cookies," said Martinez. "It's just something ... to give back to the community."
Every Wednesday, she's in her kitchen, baking.
"Ever since I was real young, I would help my mom bake," Martinez explained.
Then on Thursdays, she brings the icing. This week, Martinez was decorating 130 cookies.
"Decorating is probably my favorite part about the baking," Martinez said. "Take a step back and look at all the cookies you actually made for people and it feels like you actually made a dent."
Martinez decided that this year, more than ever, front-line workers needed gifts like cookies.
"I feel really excited to help other people but it's also really overwhelming ... because I know it's not hard for me to do," she said. "But it's also a lot of cookies for like everybody. I mean, there's a lot of people who are firefighters and police officers and hospital workers."
Which brings us to Fridays: the day that she finally delivers the cookies, putting them into the hands of front-line workers. This time, Martinez delivers the cookies to the firefighters at Firehouse 14 on the east side of town.
"Hello, how are you doing?" said the firefighter who opened the door.
"Hello, my name is Samantha Martinez," she said to the firefighter. "This is my summer project where I bake and deliver cookies to fire stations, police stations and hospitals.
"Thank you, thank you very much," he responded.
A 13-year-old just trying to make a difference, one summer project at a time.
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