The 8th Annual Irish Fest and Soda Bread Contest that took place Saturday was one family’s way to support other families who have a member being treated for pediatric brain tumors at the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital.
Karen Peck, Julie Trafton and Teresa Capua, sisters and event coordinators, have held the event since the 2009 death of their mother Lynn Bennett, who died from a brain tumor.
Peck said the number of people who packed the venue at Charleston’s Bar & Grill in New Lenox, co-owned by Trafton and her husband Rich, and Carrie and Dave Beamish, was a testament to Bennett’s special personality and generous nature.
“My mom touched so many people,” Peck said. “She was just a giver. She was always about the other person in the room, not about herself.”
Peck, her sisters and their families planned the five-hours-plus family event with activities for all ages.
A split-the-pot raffle, live auction, basket raffle, children’s games and balloon art, and live entertainment by Sullivan’s School of Irish Dance and the Joliet Fire Department Drum & Fife Corps, were among the many activities of the day.
The annual featured soda bread contest also was in honor of Bennett, who once won an Irish soda bread contest and earned a trip to Ireland, Peck said. The contest was coordinated by family patriarch and event head judge Bill Bennett.
There were 27 entries in all shapes and sizes. Amanda Popow, of New Lenox, took first place and a prize of $500. Mandy Petyko, of Manteno, came in second, and Ann Wilke, of New Lenox, finished in third place. Joy Reno, of New Lenox, was awarded “Best Presentation.”
New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann emceed the live auction. Peck said Baldermann added New Lenox Triple Play summer concert series tickets and a meet-and-greet with the entertainers to the auction. Each package brought in $500, she said.
Comer Children’s Hospital pediatric oncologist Dr. Charles Rubin spoke about the importance of fundraisers to support research to fight cancer and the progress that has been made.
“It is important that there be sources of money from places like this because the government has been giving less and less money for cancer research every year, so finding other sources for research is really important,” Rubin said.
Rubin said researchers are “so incredibly devoted to what they are doing.”
He said despite the slow progress of improvement, childhood cancers — “if you lump everything together” — have a cure rate of about 70 percent.
“It’s hard to see, but it is very clear,” he said.
Peck said the fundraiser has focused on both research and helping families in the last eight years. She said 2015 funds of about $16,500 will help support families at Comer Children’s Hospital with the necessary and unexpected costs of parking, meals and financial emergencies, among other needs.
“The financial constraints that are on these families with kids (with brain tumors) is just incredible,” Peck said.
She said many parents have to take a leave from their jobs to get their children to the medical facility.
Peck said her family saw the spirit of Lynn Bennett in those present.
Nick Tambellini, 20, of Palatine, donated his split-the-pot winnings of $900 back to the fundraiser, and the Joliet Fire Fife & Drum donated its fee to the fundraiser, Peck said, as it has every year it has performed.
Peck said Bennett would have “absolutely” approved of the event in her honor.
More Top Picks Best Backpack Leaf Blowers
“She loved getting family together and celebrating her Irish heritage,” Peck said. “She was one of a kind — beautiful inside and out.”
Ginger Brashinger is a freelance reporter.