Spaghetti Served Up For A Worthy Cause

By Becky Maxedon

Content sponsored by the Heidi Edwards Cooking for Cancer Foundation

A delicious fundraising event was Thursday evening at Shugrue’s Bridgeview room, hosted by the Heidi Edwards Cooking for Cancer Foundation.

The 13^th annual event – Cooking for Cancer Heidi Edwards Memorial – featured 12 local Lake Havasu City restaurants stirring up their best Italian fare for a good cause.

The foundation was founded by Heidi Edwards who was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2010. She subsequently put together the fundraising spaghetti cooking contest event to help those fighting cancer.

Edwards succumbed to the disease and died three weeks after the inaugural event.

Lisa Turner is Edwards’ mother and also the president and CEO of the foundation.

Jillian Danielson/RiverScene

“We have 12 restaurants that will be serving their specialty spaghetti sauce and all of them are volunteers,” Turner said.

She said 100 percent of the program and foundation is all based off of volunteers.

“We raise money during this event with the silent auction, our cooking and live auction items. And all the money goes for the people that are battling cancer.

“We sold out. There are approximately 220 people here for the event.”

Turner said the eight-person board and another 10 people serve as volunteers to help with the event.

Cooking for Cancer Board Members. Ralph Tapscott, Arron Edwards, Keenan Edwards, Phyllis Rathburn, Steve Worley, Lisa Turner, Ginger Stroup, Jesse Pruett, Kim Apparito. Jillian Danielson/RiverScene

“It’s absolutely amazing what they do for us.”

Silent auction items were donated by local businesses. “They do a fabulous job, and they are quite generous so we’re super excited and we thank all the business … for their support.”

Restaurants represented at the event included Shugrue’s Restaurant and Bar, La Vita Dolce, Place To Be, Mudshark Brewery, Mario’s Italian Restaurant, Angelina’s Italian Kitchen, Linda’s Italian Foods, College Street Brewhouse, Campbell’s Redi Mix/Mike Washington, Rotary Kitchen +Bar, Stubby’s Red Wagon BBQ, Arizona Rebel Republic, Small Cakes and Freedom Bakes.

Lake Havasu High School Key Club and Western Arizona Vocational Education students volunteered to serve spaghetti dishes.

For more information about the Heidi Edwards Cooking for Cancer Foundation, visit heidiedwardscookingforcancer.org.