Date January 8, 2026

Connecting with cookies

By Beth James

For two years now in December, the School of Engineering has collected pre-packaged cookies for the stockings of the elderly residents of the Jeanne Jugan Little Sisters of the Poor Residence in Pawtucket. This year, when tragedy struck and the building was closed, the collected cookies remained in a fourth floor office as the holidays approached.

Tina Trahan is a 35+ year employee of Brown Engineering, who has been seated on several different floors of Barus & Holley throughout her work history, beginning as a technical typist in 1989. From her current position of Finance and Operations Manager, she is often considered the primary holder of institutional knowledge in the building. But many also know her as the organizer of the SoE’s various community outreach opportunities, from 2014’s ice bucket challenge for ALS awareness to the Thanksgiving Food Drive benefitting the Camp Street Ministries that is currently 12 years strong.

For Trahan, who was born and raised in Pawtucket, finding this newest mission of goodwill was personal. Her grandparents were residents of the Jeanne Jugan Residence at the end of their lives, and she has many memories of the home. When she recently re-connected with Sister Mary Vincent, occasionally known at the home as the “cookie Sister,” an idea was born. Cookies for the residents to open on Christmas morning are a welcome treat, always bringing a smile.

Trahan emailed the staff in 2024 with her idea for a cookie and holiday card signing drive, and the success of year one prompted her to do it again in 2025. But then the events of December 13 unfolded and the building was shuttered, with the cookies tucked away in her fourth floor office. She reached out to those who had donated: “Unfortunately, the cookies you donated are in my office, as are the cards. I do have 10 cases of cookies at my house. These are the ones I purchased with the Venmo/cash you donated. My dad went to his barber this morning and mentioned that half of the cookies collected are in my office. The barber told my dad to take the money for his haircut, tip and Christmas gift, and give it to me to go buy cookies. I will be picking up three more cases after work.”

“ We don’t think of ourselves as connected, but when something like this happens, we realize that we all are. That’s one of the important things I will take from this. These cookies will be some solace to our residents who remember Ella and know what has happened. ”

Sister Mary Vincent

She contacted Sister Mary Vincent, who replied, “We are so so deeply sorry for what happened over there. You know in a very small way it touched our community in a very personal way because Ella had been to visit us and so many of the doctors come here to take care of our residents so we are just so sorry for what happened and we are indeed holding everybody there in our prayers. Please know we’re thinking of all of you. God bless you.”

This is how the engineering staff learned that Ella Cook, a passionate and intellectually curious sophomore who was interested in French and Francophone studies, had been a monthly visitor to the Jeanne Jugan home with the Brown-RISD Catholic student community and Father Justin Bolger, Brown’s Associate Chaplain for the Catholic Community. Ella was one of the two Brown University students who lost their lives when a gunman opened fire during an optional review session for an introductory economics course that took place on the ground floor of Barus & Holley.

When Trahan delivered the cookies she had gathered (with the promise of the remainder to come), Sister Mary Vincent said, “We don’t think of ourselves as connected, but when something like this happens, we realize that we all are. That’s one of the important things I will take from this. These cookies will be some solace to our residents who remember Ella and know what has happened.”