C is for cookie - and caring for soldiers overseas

By Kathy Adams

VIRGINIA BEACH

One hundred soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan soon will receive boxes of homemade cookies baked by young Virginia Beach chefs.

More than 50 children and parents rolled, decorated, baked and boxed 5,000 cookies and Rice Krispies treats as part of the Young Chefs Academy's first "Serving Our Soldiers" fundraiser on Saturday. The cooking school for children sponsored the event, which included music, food and family activities.

Organizers estimated the fundraiser would raise more than $1,000 for the Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund. An official total was not available because they were still accepting donations after the event.

Sandra Compton and Beth Jourdan, co-owners of the academy on Laskin Road, said they wanted to show the community's support for its soldiers and their families.

"We have a lot of children here in the academy that have loved ones overseas," Compton said. "We wanted to show them that children can make a difference."

As the fundraiser got rolling Saturday morning, children hurried to stuff goody bags, assemble boxes for shipping and bake and decorate the cookies - some sitting on chairs to reach the counter.

As she assembled boxes, McKenna Hickox, 10, a Young Chefs Academy student, said she hoped to help children who lost their family members and cheer up soldiers overseas.

"If the cookies make it over there by the Fourth of July, it'll really make them happy," she said.

Each volunteer paid $20 to help cover the $1,800 in postage required to ship the cookies Saturday afternoon, Compton said. The students and other community members provided soldiers' addresses where the academy could send them.

One of the boxes will make its way to instructor Jonathan "T" Norton's best friend in Iraq.

"I can only hope that it'll bring just a taste of home," he said.

As the children worked in the kitchens inside, families gathered outside to eat hot dogs and snow cones, have their faces painted, listen to music and buy raffle tickets. The money these activities raised will go to the Maryland-based Children of Fallen Soldiers Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides college grants and financial assistance to the children and spouses of soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to its Web site.

"It's kids helping kids," Norton said.

With children and parents working side-by-side, the fundraiser also furthered the academy's mission of bringing families together.

"Everyone's so busy nowadays that they don't have time to sit down as a family for dinner," Compton said. "We want to get families back together, and what better way than to get them back together in the kitchen, which is the heart of the home."

Kathy Adams, (757) 446-2583, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com