Sushi Set for Bri

I'm a food junkie, no doubt about it.

There isn't much I won't try, or try to cook, and I check out as many food blogs as possible. If there were an extra 4 hours in a day, I'd probably spend all four reading about food.


Maybe that's what happens when you grow up in a family of restaurateurs. Or maybe it's just growing up Italian.

Whatever.

Which leads me to the following - one of my favorite food blogs is Jen Yu's "Use Real Butter", she's smart, wickedly funny, and unfortunately, fighting cancer right now. It just dawned on me that I've never met Jen, but still ride the ups and downs of her cancer journey. I think it's an amazing testament to the blogging community that bonds can be made over DSL lines, across telephone networks, and hand held devices all over the world.

Think about it... it's pretty amazing.

So with much sadness, I'll try to help out the blogging community by posting this next bit.

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This is an appeal on behalf of a group of food bloggers who are friends of Briana Brownlow @ Figs With Bri.

Bri was diagnosed with breast cancer two and half years ago. A mastectomy, chemotherapy and two years of relatively good health later, the cancer is back. It has metastasized to other parts of her body. At the age of 15, Bri lost her 41-year old mother to the disease. Now, she’s waging her own war against breast cancer. More about it here.

She is going through intensive chemo and other treatments and needs to focus single-mindedly on healing and finding what treatment works best for her. Her health insurance, unfortunately, does not cover holistic alternatives which she would like to try. Bri and her husband Marc have enough on their plates right now in addition to worrying about her medical bills.

The team organising the JUNE edition of CLICK at Jugalbandi has organised a fundraiser to help Bri and her family meet her out-of-pocket medical costs for ONE YEAR.

CLICK is a monthly theme-based photography contest hosted by Jugalbandi. This month’s theme is: YELLOW for Bri

Yellow is the colour of hope. Through the work of the LiveStrong Foundation, it has also come to signify the fight against cancer.

The entries can be viewed HERE. The deadline for entries is June 30, 2008. The fundraiser will extend until July 15, 2008.

The target amount is 12,000 U.S. dollars. We appeal to our fellow bloggers and readers to help us achieve this. Bri deserves a chance to explore all options, even if her insurance company thinks otherwise.

There’s a raffle with exciting prizes on offer. After viewing the list, you may make your donation HERE or at the Chip-In button on any participating site.

Your donation can be made securely through credit card or Pay Pal and goes directly to Bri’s account.

This month’s photo contest also has some prizes. Details HERE.

You can support this campaign by donating to the fundraiser, by participating in CLICK: the photo event, and by publicizing this campaign.

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I'm pretty sure it's too late for me to contribute a piece of my work, but here's the deal - I sell some awesome sushi dinnerware sets on Etsy. I will donate the proceeds of the next sushi set that I sell to Bri.

Please check it out, and think about how nice one of my sets will look in your home.

Better yet, think about how great it would be to help out Bri.