LONGMONT, Colo. (KDVR) — A Silver Creek High School senior recently created a cookbook to honor Marshall Fire victims and bring a sense of home back to them.
Most people who lost everything in the Marshall Fire had their immediate needs met when it came to bedding and a roof over their heads to be replaced. But over a year later, family heirlooms and cherished items are things they’ll never get back.
That’s why a local high school senior, Miranda Beasley, made it her mission to bring back a sense of home to those fire victims. “The Family Meal” is the cookbook she created for her capstone project at Silver Creek High School.
“It originally started my junior year of high school because I am part of a program at Silver Creek called SCLA, where you learn a bunch of leadership skills and learn how to manage projects,” Beasley said. “Our assignment that year, because it was right after the Marshall Fire, was to try and create a project for them, and I came up with the idea of a cookbook for me and my team to do.”
50 recipes to help soothe those who lost
The book has 50 recipes of main dishes, side dishes, appetizers and desserts, alongside their stories.
Although her family was fortunate enough not to be a victim of the Marshall Fire, she had close family friends who were.
“They lost everything and so they came to live with us for about a week, just when they got everything worked out and found a place to live,” Beasley said. And I grew up playing at their house and playing games in their basement and stuff, and it’s really weird to think that I’ll never be able to go back there, and it must be even weirder to never be able to go back to a childhood home.”
Seeing that pain in those she loved drove her to bring back a sense of home to victims of the fire.
“That’s kind of what I wanted to bring back because food has always been associated with family for me and being cared about, and I just wanted to help bring that feeling of family and being cared about and home to people who unfortunately lost it,” Beasley said.
There is also an option to donate to Louisville Community Food Bank.