Mansfield Family Tries To Win Money For School Makeover

MANSFIELD, TX — One 5-year-old girl is making a difference at her school with an entry into a competition that could win the school $30,000 for a cafeteria renovation. Gabriela Malkomes, who goes by Gabby, attends Martha Reid Leadership Academy, and her family's submission to the Ben's Beginners competition has been chosen as a finalist in the contest.

Luciana Malkomes, Gabby's mother, saw an Instagram post about the competition, a photo contest hosted by Uncle Ben's in Houston, last year. Ben's Beginners requires that participating students be in kindergarten, so Luciana knew the family would have to wait another year to enter the contest because Gabby was then in pre-K. Once the deadline rolled around, Luciana began inventing recipes and taking photos that would land her and her daughter among the top-25 finalists. Gabby, who has Down Syndrome, is now a kindergartener, and she attends classes for special needs students at Martha Reid.

"...I am proud she has Down Syndrome, and she is doing great," Luciana told Patch. "I am kind [of a] Down Syndrome advocate in social media. She attend kindergarten for special needs kids at Martha Reid, and I honestly think it makes our story special."

Ben's Beginners asks families to create new recipes with rice, take photos of the family making the dish and lastly submit them online. Luciana created a peanut butter rice flan dish and submitted photos of her and Gabby having fun in the kitchen.

"I created around eight recipes using their products, took pictures of Gabby and me cooking them together and submitted to the website; this first phase took around five weeks, and they got 500 entries," she said in a statement to Mansfield ISD. "They judged and picked their 25 favorite pictures out of the 500 as finalists."

Ben's Beginners chose Luciana and Gabby as finalists for the contest, which means they are eligible to win the contest. If they are chosen as one of the five winning families, the Malkomes family will receive $15,000 and Martha Reid Leadership Academy will receive $30,000. Luciana encourages her friends to vote for her family's entry into the contest.

"I'm really excited about this opportunity to win this huge prize for the school and for my family because there is a prize for us too, of course not as big as the school's," she said.

Voting closes Nov. 6. The votes will only count as 20% of the organization's final decision in selecting a winning family, but they will be used as a tie breaker. According to the Ben's Beginners website, more than 12,500 students have benefitted through the program, and $580,000 has been donated to various schools.

Winners are determined based on public votes, creativity, presentation of dish and appetite appeal. Grand prize winners will be announced in December.

Images via Luciana Malkomes, used with permission