For the past 10 summers, I have volunteered a week in August to Birch Family Camp, a residential camp program that brings New York City families living with HIV/AIDS to the woods for a week. It is seven real days of respite for these families that live everyday with the realities of illness, poverty, and many of life’s devastating trials.

Over the last 6 months, we collected recipes from the camp families and volunteers to put together our version of a family cookbook, S’more to Love. It is full of anecdotes, smiling faces, and of course, delicious recipes from all over the world.

We are a teeny program that really and truly improves the lives and spirits of our campers. We struggle each year to meet our budget so that our campers can shine with glitter and drink bug juice for one more year. $40, the cost of the book, can feed a whole group of campers for a full day. That’s nothing, right? Nothing, but everything.

Special thanks to Blurb.com for their generous donation and professional printing.

February 17, 2010| Food