A takeout pasta dinner benefitting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) will be held on Saturday, Feb. 1 with pickup scheduled between 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at St. Frances of Rome Church Hall, 2827 Topeka St., Riverbank.
Dinner tickets are $10 and the meal will include rigatoni with meat sauce, salad, bread with butter, and dessert. Tickets will only be sold in advance.
Jacklyn Volpi is a senior at Riverbank High School and must complete a senior project to graduate; therefore, she decided to create the takeout pasta dinner to benefit LLS as her physical project.
Volpi’s cousin Martin Amador-Muth II, also known as Marty, passed away at the young age of 26 from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in January 2012.
Around the same time, Volpi attended a Gallo camp and at the camp they had to pick a community service idea to help the community. That is when the idea came to her to do a dinner that benefitted the LLS and to honor her cousin.
Since then Volpi has learned a lot about the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
“They have been committed to researching and helping people with all kinds of blood cancers since 1949,” said Volpi. “Also about 77 percent of their funds go directly to research, patient services, and education.”
According to the LLS website, it is the world’s largest voluntary (nonprofit) health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research and providing education and patient services. Their mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.
As a member of the St. Frances of Rome church, Volpi thought that it would be the best place for the dinner.
“They were very gracious to allow me to do it in the hall,” stated Volpi.
Mary Ellen Azevedo agreed to be Volpi’s mentor and has been helping her every step of the way. They will be doing all the cooking and all of the dinners are for pickup, not dine in.
“She knows a lot about cooking for large crowds and is helping me tremendously with my project,” expressed Volpi.
Every dinner ticket sold will also be entered into a drawing. The prizes will be awarded upon pickup of the meal on Saturday.
“They are a great organization and I’m glad that I am donating the money I raise to them,” Volpi added of the LLS.
To purchase a ticket or for more information, contact Volpi at 209-416-6181.
