Students at Blue Creek Elementary School are cooking up a cure with a cookbook to benefit a fellow student who is battling bone cancer.
The cultural cookbook, which will combine recipes from students, teachers, parents and community members, is scheduled to come out by Mother’s Day.
The money left over after the cost of publishing the spiral, soft-bound cookbooks will go to the family of third-grader Ben Stowell, who is battling osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer.
Third-grade teacher Kathy Berger said Stowell was diagnosed with cancer two years ago.
It started in the bones of his arms, said Berger. `And right now the cancer is in his lungs.`
According to Berger, Stowell, 8, had surgery earlier in the year to remove tumors from his body at Albany Medical Center, and now, some of the tumors have returned. Stowell will soon begin experimental treatments.
`The traditional medicine isn’t working the way we had hoped,` said Berger.
Stowell’s parents were unavailable for comment. Stowell has a Web site at www.greendrakkoman.com/index.html that details his struggle with cancer.
When Stowell is not at Albany Medical Center or other hospitals receiving treatment, Berger said, he attends school as much as he can.
Stowell and his third-grade class at Blue Creek are currently learning about countries around the world, which is what inspired Berger and several other Blue Creek teachers to come up with the idea of a cultural cookbook to benefit Stowell’s treatments.
`It’s a family cookbook, representing all of the different cultures and different foods that they’re learning about,` said another Blue Creek teacher Karen Hock.
Berger said the idea was spawned by one of her teaching partners, Trichia Carlson, whose own child took part in a similar fundraising effort at a school in another district.
The teachers teamed up to figure out a way for the fundraiser to work in North Colonie.
It began with a letter sent out to parents in the district and community members.
`The community of Blue Creek Elementary School in Latham, New York, is facing a heart wrenching situation,` read the letter, drafted by Berger. `Our friend, Ben Stowell, a third-grader in Mrs. Berger’s class at Blue Creek, is fighting a courageous battle with osteosarcoma.`
The letter explains the cookbook project and how parents can participate. Those wishing to contribute can go online at www.morriscookbooks.com and submit their favorite family recipe to the Blue Creek cookbook’s database, or print the recipe out on a sheet that was attached to the letter.
Monetary donations can be made to any HSBC Bank or Key Bank branch, with attention to the Ben Fund.
The letter also reaches out to advertisers who might want to buy space in the cookbook.
`Have fun, and choose recipes that represent love, laughter and good times with your families,` wrote Berger in the letter.
According to Berger, the number of cookbooks to be sold has not been determined, but the price of the cookbooks will be dictated by that number. She estimates they will cost between $10 and $15. She is also asking that those interested in purchasing a cookbook pre-order their books.
`I just hope that when we think about all the money that we spend on [other things,] we remember that anything would help. Anything is really going to help this family,` Berger said. `This is not a book that’s in remembrance. This is a book that celebrates family.`
If you would like to purchase a cookbook, contact Kathy Berger at Blue Creek Elementary School at 785-7451.
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