The Cute Syndrome Foundation was one of the recipients of CNF’s $10,000 RISING Tides grants in 2020.
In June, the Cute Syndrome Foundation received a Rising Tides Grant from the Child Neurology Foundation to lift a social and emotional support program off the ground. This program has included zoom yoga and family martial arts classes, food and drink discussion group, a book club and access to meal kits, mindfulness app subscriptions, and gift cards for yoga mats, books, etc.
“We knew this programming would be meaningful. However, as we dove into it, we began to realize just how much our community needed this—to feel supported, engaged, and connected. Also, simply, to have a bit of fun in the midst of everything.” – Hillary Savoie, The Cute Syndrome Foundation
Below are some highlights of the two food clubs supported by the RISING Tides grant, with details and photographs provided by the Cute Syndrome Foundation.
Food and Drink Discussion Club and Meal Kits
We have offered two food-related programs as part of the CNF Rising Tides Grant.
The first was to provide access to meal kits for families, so that they could just take a night off from meal planning and have fun prepping easy, interesting meals as a family. At first it seemed like the families were hesitant to sign up for the meal kits—it turned out that some didn’t want to take away access to people who might need it more. The team found this so touching—that as we were trying to take care of the community, they were trying to look out for each other. Others didn’t participate at first because they couldn’t believe that it was a simple as just saying yes. And then, it was a great joy to see those same families sharing photos of their food, explaining what the made, and what it meant to them. This struck us, as we know how important our perception of social support is to helping protect individuals from risks of PTSD, which is a risk within caregiver communities like ours. Showing that TCSF and CNF are here to offer care is part of demonstrating social support networks…and it can make a meal feel like so much more than just a meal, but rather a symbol that we are all in this together.
Our second program was a food and drink discussion group that met weekly to share recipes, talk about our favorite drinks, and do cooking demonstrations. We also spent a good amount of time just talking, laughing, and telling stories. One of our most entertaining sessions was with a mother in Italy, Cinzia, who demonstrated how to make Spaghetti all’amatriciana. We all had so much fun watching her cook, learning about bucatini pasta, which is spaghetti with a hole in it, which, according to Cinzia, exists in order to allow the for the sensation of “wind” in your mouth as you eat. – Hillary Savoie, The Cute Syndrome Foundation
Thoughts from parents of the clubs
“I loved all the food and the recipes are easy to follow. I going to the website and making their recipes at least twice a week! Today we had sausage risotto! I’m buying a cook book binder to put all the recipes in it.”
“We failed to take any pictures of our Hello Fresh meals, however we really loved them. They were convenient, had easy to follow directions and we loved every meal! We had fun cooking them together and even Andrew (10) said we needed to get them all of the time haha. It was so nice to have a week where I knew dinner was taken care of and I didn’t have to plan meals and go buy ingredients.”
“My daughter enjoyed making them and even ate them! She’s 6 and a picky eater (not my scn8a kiddo either) lol. He’ll eat pretty much anything.”
“For me the food and drink event was all about sitting back and unwinding and spending time with everyone. Most important was the laughter. Right now our world seems to have lost its humor so for me the laughter helped to ease my stress! I’m sad to say though, I haven’t been able to find the right noodles yet to make the pasta dish so I can feel the wind in my mouth!😘”
“I picked meals outside of our usual suspects. This beautiful plate was duck l’orange. I ate duck once and had never cooked it. It was AMAZING! It was a fun challenge to cook and delicious!”
“It was great to have a fancy dinner right at hand and ready to go. I get in a dinner rut easily because of schedules and not wanting to go to the store too often.”
“We did the hello fresh meal kits, no pictures because we made them and ate them right away! So delicious and such a nice change from our usual routine 😊”
“Our Meals were so tasty!!! Our Mexican night was the fav💙. A Great chance to enjoy each other while having fun preparing our dinner!!!”