Our September/October winner is Nicke Briscoe from Kansas City, Missouri:

(Note from Nanci: Get the Kleenex box.)
Just wanted to share a story of mine. I'm a 30 Day Gourmet-er from way back. Tara and Nancy introduced me to the concept of once a month cooking when they were on the Home and Family show waaaay back in '97 when I was a brand new SAHM.

Anyway, I now work part time as a certified childbirth and breastfeeding educator. I also have a work at home job working as the hospital's registrar for prenatal classes. Meals in the freezer are perfect for the evenings that I am away from home teaching class. I even teach new moms the concept of stocking up the freezer for the post-partum period.

This Spring, a woman called my line to tell me she needed to cancel classes. When I returned her call, I asked if she needed to reschedule. She said "I don't think I'm going to be able to attend classes at all. I was diagnosed with breast cancer yesterday and they're going to take my baby early so that I can go through treatments." As I stared at her registration form on my computer screen, I noticed that this woman lived in my neighborhood. We arranged to talk later in the week when she knew more about her course of treatment. I arranged to meet with her and her husband one on one to do some "crash courses" in childbirth. She ended up having a mastectomy on 4/18 and giving birth to her daughter on 4/28.

 

A few weeks later, I called to check on her and offer to bring her dinner. (My favorite thing to bring a new mom is a hot, home-cooked meal! Anyone can bring over Baby Gap, but it sure doesn't taste as good! LOL!) She said that would be wonderful because on the days she had chemo, she was exhausted. When I asked what foods sounded good to her, she said "Comfort foods!" We scheduled her next treatment day to bring the meal over and I got off the phone. Then I couldn't decide what to bring! So many comfort foods sounded wonderful...meatloaf and mashed potatoes, homemade macaroni and cheese...hmmm...Maybe I should just make her a whole month's worth of meals for "treatment days" and she could just stick them in her freezer! So, I did! I made a lasagne and garlic bread, chicken enchiladas, chicken and rice casserole, meatloaf and mashed potatoes and homemade macaroni and cheese with broccoli florets. I had everything labeled in aluminum pans with a "menu" to keep an inventory with. When I dropped off the food (in a box!), she got tears in her eyes. About a month later, I got a sweet thank-you note and a picture of her precious daughter.

The best part is, I spent $60 for everything...even the pans and foil! I figured it was $1 per serving...side dishes and main dishes. The hospital heard about what I did and they even reimbursed me. They couldn't believe what I had done. To me, it really was no big deal and a way to bless someone with my "talents". I was blessed even more than my neighbor was.