Fremd foods students sell wares for charity

Students involved in the Chemistry of Foods course at Fremd High School have worked hard to raise money and donations for two charitable causes.

Students baked and raised more than $800 for Cookies for Kid’s Cancer in October, and recently collected more than 300 canned and boxed food items to donate to the Palatine Food Pantry during their restaurant week.

“What’s great is seeing our kids get excited about doing something for the community, to take ownership of what they are working on, and contribute to the community,” said Jen Carlson, Chemistry of Foods teacher at Fremd High School. “They were very excited and have wanted to make everything perfect during the events this year.”

The class, which combines a traditional cooking class with chemistry, provides students with a well-rounded learning experience about the food preparation, the industry and cooking. As a dual-credit course with William Rainey Harper College, students have the opportunity to study and test for their food safety and sanitation certification at the high school.

During the Halloween event, students baked hundreds of cookies to sell for $1. The students completed all aspects of the fundraiser, including preparing the cookies, to marketing and selling. The donations were then sent to Cookies for Kid’s Cancer, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds for pediatric cancer research. Erin Fasse, Family and Consumer Science teacher at Fremd High School, said this is a cause that many people can connect with.

“It’s amazing how many people have a connection with pediatric cancer through family or friends, or have recovered themselves as children,” Fasse said. “Our students get to see the impact this has on the community and it really turns them into a team knowing their energy is helping someone else.”

After the Cookies for Kid’s Cancer fundraiser was completed, the Chemistry of Foods students decided to not collect proceeds during restaurant week, which is where students apply their knowledge and host a restaurant for faculty and staff, from cooking to marketing and business, and instead collected food. The students asked for canned and boxed food items as a donation for a meal.

“There was a lot of food for donation,” Fasse said. “The students loaded all of it up and it was great that they could see what resulted from all of their hard work.”

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