Dough was tossed, toppings were placed, pizza was cooked and kids snacked with a smile.
Three children from the Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida received a welcome from Chef Todd Johnson in Cape Harbor on Saturday for the third annual Cooking with Todd event. Johnson created the event to help give children with cancer and other illnesses a diversion from treatment.
Pizza-making started with high fives, followed with flour being poured into an industrial size mixer. The children formed the dough, spread the sauce and placed toppings on their very own pizza.
“She’s been looking forward to it for a few weeks now,” Mindy Russell said about her 4-year-old Caliah.
Caliah said she was looking forward to making the dough. She created a mushroom and pineapple pizza. Caliah has acute lymphoblastic leukemia which has recently gone into remission.
“She’s a little trooper. She’s been amazing through all of it,” Russell said.
After the kids ate their fill, the group went to Run Agrounds, a gelato shop in Cape Harbor, to learn how to make their own gelato. The kids mixed vanilla and cinnamon gelato adding their favorite toppings to create a special flavor.
Duane Higgins, with the Lee Memorial Health System Foundation, said this event is a precursor for the Celebrity Chef Night fundraiser Wednesday at Rumrunners in Cape Harbor. The night benefits Barbara’s Friends, a part of the foundation dedicated to providing local treatment for children with cancer.
“It’s really about these kids,” Higgins said. “That’s why we raise the money, have the night and we don't want the purpose of that to get lost.”
Johnson has helped host the Celebrity Chef Night for eight years.
“For me it reinforces where the money goes, we really enjoy it,” Johnson said.
He said he thought of making pizza with children after reminding himself of the time he worked at Pizza Hut when he was 15. The restaurant brought in kids from the March of Dimes to help Johnson make pizza.
“To see the enjoyment the kids have on their faces making pizzas, it always stuck with me,” he said.
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