Entrepreneurial Grandmothers raise funds for Flood Victims

Community leader Zein Bertacchi has helped Chess Without Borders raise funds for local and global charities since its inception. Zein, a Microbiologist who works at Good Shepherd hospital in Infection Control has used her talent as a gourmet cook to bring home made meals to families and friends at chess tournaments. She is going beyond her regular mission to bring cooking lessons to the public. Zein and her award-winning volunteers want to raise funds for the flood victims of hurricane Harvey so a portion of the proceeds from the cooking lessons will be donated to a charity that will benefit the homeless flood victims.

Chess Without Borders, a grassroots non-profit organization has established a tradition of raising funds for a variety of local and global non-profit organizations since its inception. The funds have been raised predominantly from food sales at chess events held over the last several years. Over $136,000 has been donated to various charities. This has been possible through the generosity of youth and adult volunteers like Zein.

This unusual collaboration between food and chess began in 2005 when the founder of the chess program in Barrington, Rishi Sethi was invited with his Barrington High School Team to teach chess in an orphanage in Mexico. Rishi approached Zein Bertacchi to help him raise funds for his high school team to go to Mexico. A Grandmaster chess event was held at Barrington High School and Zein volunteered as the Head Chef for the evening providing a Gourmet Italian meal to the visitors and families who attended the event. The money raised from the event was used for the chess trip to Mexico for a group of 20 chess enthusiasts to teach at the Don Bosco Orphanage in Leon, Mexico.

Since then a tradition has been established where 100% of the food sales from chess events are donated to charities. Zein Bertacchi has been instrumental in providing mentoring, enthusiasm and labor to hundreds of other volunteers who have also donated services in order to be able to raise money for donations.

Zein Bertacchi has generously donated her skills as a cook and enthusiasm as a gifted chef inspiring hundreds of students and parents to help as well. She has an interesting heritage being born in Palestine raised in Jordan and the US and being married to an Italian. This cross-cultural experience has been wonderful for her knowledge of food and cooking.

Zein plans to offer cooking lessons and a meal at your home starting at $25 per person for a group of 8 people.

Zein has won awards for her unique culinary creations. She has a wide range of expertise from Italian (she is married to an Italian) to Middle Eastern dishes. Zein was born in Jaffa, Palestine then moved to Jordan and then the US. Being a product of 3 cultures influences her cooking techniques and her personality.

Zein has inspired hundreds of youth to sell and serve food at chess tournaments and has engaged a number of adult volunteers including her sister Rima Said from Jordan to cook up some delicious meals.

Please consider signing up for a cooking class and a meal at Zeins home in Barrington or your home at a time convenient to you.

Cost $25 per head (a portion of the proceeds go towards helping flood victims)

Choice of food determined by you.

Call: Kiran Frey 847 3825410

Or email: chesswob@gmail.com

Please help us improve our fund raising skills with your suggestions.

Presidential Award winning youth volunteers are:

Ethan Gagliano, Pranav and Prashant Ramachandra, Prathik Kandimalla, Jack and Jane Bradley, Vishal and Rohan Ahuja, Eleanore van Marwijk Kooy, Aryan and Ayushi Shah, Toby Schwartz, Siddharth and Abhijeet Gehlaut, Nabeel Rasheed, Sanjaya and Sahitya Maheswaram, Arnav and Adu Batta, Dominic Oetinger, Stephen Zhu, Sophia Cai, Pranay and Duniya Diyadawagamage.