A Time to Heal

Since 2006, Comfort Food has been providing meals to families fighting critical illness and medical adversity. Through our meal preparation partnerships with My Girlfriend’s Kitchen, Dream Dinners, Dinner By Design, Supper Solutions and A Dinner A’Fare, we have prepared over 8,000 servings and distributed meals through our partnerships with The Wellness Community-Central Indiana, Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute, Wishard Hospital’s Embrace Program, Ronald McDonald House of Indiana and countless individuals and families. Comfort Food has given the people of central Indiana a special way to support those struggling through what is often the fight of their lives.

As many of you know, Comfort Food was born out of experiences in our fight for the health of our youngest son, Auggie. To all of those that have helped Comfort Food since 2006, we cannot begin to thank you enough for each and every meal prepared, delivered and given with love. It is your generosity that helped provide us with the vision and support that ultimately comforted each of those 8,000+ family members over the last three years.

Unfortunately, with all the amazing things that have occurred at Comfort Food, behind the scenes there have been some bumps in the road as well. Dealing with a rare critical illness typically results in soaring medical costs, challenges to the family unit, and added insurmountable stress…and our family has not been exempt from all of this. In 2009, we have been presented with some of our hardest challenges yet. This spring we sold our home in Indiana to help with ongoing medical costs. We moved closer to our family and a hospital in Ohio where we could continue providing the best possible medical support for Auggie, and we began to heal the many emotional wounds our family has endured over the last several years. With these changes, it has become very apparent changes must also be made to support Comfort Food as it deserves to be supported.

Our family’s mantra this year has been “change is good”, and so far we have not been proven wrong. The changes our family has made have resulted in a healthy, happy brood of boys, a strong family bond and a bright future. This mantra also applies to Comfort Food, we firmly believe.

Over the next year, Comfort Food will be undergoing a bit of "healing" of it's own. We will be working to establish a healthy fundraising plan, a hearty volunteer corps, and a fresh operational structure so that we can continue to support those that need us not only in Indiana, but in our new home of Ohio as well. And we are confident that a healthy, hearty Comfort Food can reach well beyond our geographic boundaries. After all, there are families dealing with critical illness throughout our nation's communities, and if we can help eliminate at least one burden from their shoulders in what is likely the most difficult time of their lives...we will.

With sincerest love, thanks and appreciation,

Dena

Dena Hipskind
Founder and President

Apres Easter Comfort Food

Croque Monsieur (strata-style)

Leftover ham, eggs, dinner rolls and other odds and ends from the Easter holiday? I concocted this strata-like dish today based on the Croque Monsieurs I enjoyed while at brasseries in Paris. It's also a great comfort food meal...with a white sauce base, or bechemal sauce, it coats the tummy and gives you that warm, cozy feeling. In a dish like this, pretty much anything can get layered on to make it a healthy meal. It will also freeze well if you'd like to gift it to someone you know who could really use the comfort of a warm meal.

6 Ham slices, cubed

1 Loaf of bread or equivalent of rolls, cubed

3 hard boiled eggs, cubed

1 cup gruyere cheese (or for those with more American tastes, cheddar works well)

Bechemal sauce (see recipe below)

1/2 c. onion (diced or dried flakes)

salt and pepper to taste

Butter a 9"x13" glass baking dish and layer bread, ham, hard boiled eggs and whatever other ingredients you've got to add. Top with shredded cheese. Don't forget the onion, salt and pepper! Preheat oven to 350.

Bechemal sauce: in a saucepan, melt 2T butter and add 2T flour. Wisk until you have a nice roux, then slowly add 2 cups of milk. Stir over medium heat until the sauce thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour bechemal sauce over the layered ingredients and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until sauce bubbles and cheese begins to turn golden.

***Please keep in mind that I am not a trained chef, nor am I an overly organized person. This recipe leaves lots of room for tweaking (I would recommend it!). Makes a great main dish, or serve with a green salad.

ENJOY!

Reflections

Today was a seemingly unremarkable Easter with family and our three boys laughing, running, and hunting eggs. And as I watched Auggie, something made me stop and absorb every bit of it. Today was the first time Auggie could carry his own basket without falling because of his ataxia. He ran steadily to each egg without spilling all of his eggs because of his vertigo. His eyes were able to focus on each egg rather than bouncing in his head from his nystagmus. He was able to point, shout and giggle. He was able to walk. He was able to talk. He could look at me in the eyes and smile and say, "Mommy! The Easter Bunny was here!"

It was a very symbolic day that made me reflect back to our Easters prior spent in small, cramped hospital rooms. We were unfortunate enough to spend Easter in the hospital in our journey to get Auggie well, and I will never forget the experience. It was like prison - we could not leave, we could not have visitors, and yet we watched helplessly as all of our doctors laughed together and exited one by one for their family trips to warm climates...or simply to their own homes to be with their own families. It was scary lonely. And in so many cases, families must divide to maintain "normal" for the remaining family members at home trying to get through the trauma of fighting critical illness. Those goodbyes are by far the worst for an already fractured family. For us, it was the pain of knowing that our two older boys were alone together back home with grandparents, but separated from us on such a special day. The empty corridors and the frustration at desperately needing tests and having them put off until the doctors returned on Monday only added more emotions to an already difficult time...

And yet, today, Auggie rose up in his easter clothes and ran around the yard like any healthy toddler having little recollection of those times. And I was reminded with a little mental tap that there are so many experiencing Easter in the hospitals today. So this post is to let those of you in that isolating place on Easter know that you're not alone.

Max, next Easter your mom and dad will watch you hunt eggs with Alex and Ellie in your backyard and your bone marrow transplant will have done all it was supposed to. And you will all be together and this will seem like such a distant memory....

....and Karen, as you all get through today having chemo ahead and behind you, know that you are loved and admired and thought of by those that have been through this. And you will be inspiration to those that have to go through it in the future....

Though these times may seem unending and unbearable, they are the fabric that wrap around us and lift us up to become stronger, healthier and greater than before. Before you know it, this time will merely be a reflection of where you've been.

With our warmest thoughts on Easter.