Iggy's Fund

In 2015 I gathered all the resources I could muster, quit my job and left a lifelong career as a nurse executive and consultant to open a cooking school in Fort Collins, CO. If you wonder how I had the nerve to leave the security of a regualr paycheck, benefits and a 401k account, I can tell you that it was because of my sister Iggy.

She was behind me every step I took, read every iteration of the business plan, listened when I obsessed over money, worried over spreadsheets and figured out how to find good chef instructors to teach. She really thought The Cooking Studio Fort Collins as a joint effort - hers and mine.

Sadly, in late 2015, Iggy discovered she had terminal cancer and within 5 weeks of her diagnosis, she passed away. For any of you who have lost a loved one you'll understand how difficult it is to move ahead without them.

The Cooking Studio now has to go forward without Iggy's constant support and encouragement. Happily things are coming together just as expected and we're making the budget every month. Also happily, she got to see The Cooking Studio’s successful start up, the Grand Opening launch and even celebrate the first month we broke even. She was so excited about the future and we'd made plans for her to be in Colorado more so she could be part of it all.

Now that she's passed, I'm starting a gofundme fund in her honor.  Why?  There are three reasons: 

1. Iggy should be memorialized by something fun.
The family has set up a donation option to the home visiting services in her neighborhood at the Lake of the Woods in Virginia - and that's a Great service! I hope people will donate to it in her honor so they can continue thier loving help to people in need.

However, The Cooking Studio is about having fun. It's a place for gathering  around the table and having great conversations. A place where interesting people get together to learn about good food, good cooking and each other.  Exactly Iggy's cup of tea.

2. Iggy would love  it.   She would love knowing that she is still supporting The Cooking Studio, even though it isn't the same way she did before her untimely death. 

Here's a photo of Iggy and me at The Cooking Studio Grand Opening.

Here's Iggy with one of our chefs, Chef Gil, at The Cooking Studio

Here's Iggy teaching her friends at The Lake of the Woods what she learned in The Cooking Studio sauces class. They tell me they did great! 

3. The  money will be used for charity.  We get weekly requests to donate cooking classes to silent auctions or other charity fund raising events.  As a start up, we can't donate much - even though we know cooking classes, especially group cooking classes, always bring a lot of money to the charity. 

The bottom line is that $12,000 will allow a donatation of a  group class to a fund raising event every month of 2016.  Instead of a year of mourning, we'll have a year of charities raising money through gatherings around the table & toasting the person who made it possible. 12 months. 12 'Iggy toasts'. $12,000. 

I'm starting the fund with $500 from my savings. If you contribute also, then your funds will join mine in memorializing a great gatherer of people, faciliatator of fun and believer in the idea that getting people together around a table is a good thing to do.

You'll also be helping out 12 charities make thier fundraising events even better by adding The Cooking Studio cooking classes to thier options.

Visit: The Cooking Studio website

Note:  this is a gofundme project & so we can't give you a tax deduction receipt for your donation. sorry!