Chef makes Halloween sweeter

Stephen Esh likes his job as a chef all year, but this month is special and fun for him. In the next few weeks he'll be planning a menu for diners he looks forward to feeding all year.

In the days before Halloween, the kids will walk and be rolled into the banquet hall of the Holiday Inn Hotel & suites Chicago Northwest in Elgin and eat what every other kid eats.

They'll munch on cookies, pizza and hamburgers. They'll drink soda pop, punch and juice. And for the couple of hours while they are in his dining room, many of those children will forget they have terminal diseases or physical handicaps. They'll have a chance to eat as many sweet treats as they want while they're dressed as ghosts and goblins.

The food Esh and his staff will be cooking will be served at the Dundee Township Rotary Club's annual Halloween party for ill and disabled children.

While club members are ushering their trick-or-treating guests through two floors of decorated rooms, Esh will be setting his tables.

"We'll make about 25 dozen cookies, 40 pizzas and 240 hamburgers," he said.

"There's no special needs or special diets.

"We'll make what every kid wants to eat."

In each of the seven years, local Rotarians have hosted the party, Esh has been involved.

He knows some years pizza is more popular than the hamburgers. Cookies are always a hit, as is Pepsi.

And, always to make extra.

"Oh, we make enough for their parents and brothers and sisters. Entire families come," he said. "In all, we have about 400 people attend."

The children who attend are affiliated with Easter Seals Jayne Shover Center, Make a Wish Foundation, Little Angels, and the Bear Necessities pediatric cancer group.

Rotarians started sponsoring the party to give children with special needs a safe, warm and dry place to trick or treat. This year, it'll be Oct. 28 at the Holiday Inn.

Managers of the Elgin hotel donate two full floors of rooms, which are sponsored by other clubs, businesses or individuals. Their members decorate them and pass out candy and other treats to the children, who roll through them in wheelchairs, walk with walkers and ride on stretchers.

When the kids are finished collecting their treats, they attend a party where Esh's food is served.

"It's really is a very touching event," said Alan Scimeca, a Dundee Rotarian and party chairman.

"For some of these kids, this is the only way they get to trick or treat. Hotel managers have very generous in helping us."

Planning food for the party takes months. But the work is worth it, Esh said. His staff, Rotarians and other volunteers have as much fun making the preparations and attending as the kids do.

Room sponsors also have fun. They compete to see who has the best theme. And the winner is awarded a trophy.

To sponsor a room or learn more about the party, call Scimeca at (847) 420-6222.