Second-year bioscience student and peer mentor, Evelyn Cooper, launched a community-led cookbook in aid of Breast Cancer Ireland at South East Technological Universitys (SETU) campus in Carlow this week.
The idea behind Evelyn’s cookbook originated from personal experience, after a close relative of hers was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Evelyn described a sense of powerlessness in the face of the diagnosis. She knew she wanted to help in some way and decided to take action to raise money for Breast Cancer Ireland.
Understanding the power of community in bringing to life a project like this, Evelyn reached out to SETU Peer Coordinator, Mary Boylan, and team for support. They came up with the idea to reach out to staff and students requesting recipe contributions. After an overwhelmingly positive response, particularly from a group of inspirational first-year students, Evelyn soon had enough recipes to fill the book. She then set to work to compile the collection during her Christmas break from college.
“It was a labour of love to put together the ‘Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy’ cookbook. I want to thank my fellow students and the wider SETU community for their incredible support for this project. I’m overwhelmed at the response. It was a thrill to sell out of our first batch of books at this week’s launch, with more copies on order. I’m delighted to say we have raised over €800 for Breast Cancer Ireland thus far in support of the work they do.” said Evelyn at the book launch.
Mary Boylan, SETU Peer Coordinator commented, “The launch of the cookbook, led by Evelyn, is a testament to the strong community of inspirational students and staff at SETU. I’m delighted our Peer Mentor network could support this project that has successfully raised proceeds for a great charity – Breast Cancer Ireland.”
The event was opened by David Denieffe, Vice President for Student Experience at SETU, who introduced speakers Karen Walsh, representative of Breast Cancer Ireland, and Aisling Fitzgerald, SETU staff member, who spoke about her journey and battle with breast cancer.
For more information on the work of Breast Cancer Ireland, click here.
