Recipe for helping research
BY AMY DeMELIA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Friday, March 20, 2009 3:14 AM EDT
EDeb Hanewich, left, a North Attleboro resident and teacher in Wrentham elementary schools, put together a cookbook to raise money for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute along with her children, from left to right, Mandi, 5, Chris, 2, and Cate, 6. (Staff photos by Tom Maguire)
NORTH ATTLEBORO - A local woman has cooked up a way to raise money for cancer research through the sale of a self-published cookbook.
Deb Hanewich, a North Attleboro resident and elementary school teacher in Wrentham, is raising money for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute with her "Cooking for a Cure" cookbook, which was produced with help from hundreds of friends who donated recipes for their favorite desserts, entrees, soups and salads.
The idea was an outgrowth of Hanewich's decision to run the Boston Marathon as part of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge Team in honor of a family member and a close friend who battled cancer.
She is running for Tim Hanewich, her brother-in-law and a two-time cancer survivor, and her friend, Lexia Calzaretta, who lost her battle with cancer in June.
"I ran the Boston Marathon last year for stroke awareness and really enjoyed it," Hanewich said. "I decided to go for it again with the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge Team because I wanted to give back for all they did for my friend Lexia, who battled cancer for five or 10 years. I'm also running for my brother-in-law Tim who is a cancer survivor."
Hanewich's daughters helped design the cover of the book.
Fundraising for Dana-Farber is part of participating on the team and Hanewich knew she wanted to do something special.
So, last summer she started mailing letters to family and friends - even through a network put together through her book club - asking for recipes for the "Cooking for a Cure" cookbook.
"I received 350 delicious recipes - some from North Attleboro, some from Wrentham and even some from out of state," Hanewich said.
To make the cookbook even more special, Hanewich asked friends and family members affected by cancer to design the section dividers inside the cookbook. Her daughters also helped to design the cover.
"Each divider is really personalized," she said. "My nephew wrote about what it was like to help his dad through cancer treatments, and another cancer survivor drew a picture of a streetscape."
Hanewich ordered 450 cookbooks and sold 100 of them within two weeks.
The cookbooks are $15 each and all proceeds go directly toward cancer research at Dana Farber.
Anyone interested in obtaining a cookbook can contact Hanewich by telephone at 508-699-1085 or via e-mail at
d.hanewich@comcast.net.
