Top chefs dish up specialties: Wine and Food Festival benefits Cancer Society.

• Author: Pounds, Nancy
• Position: Alaska This Month

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Sometimes the best medicine is a whipped-cream fight. Ariel Courtright of Anchorage believes these and other adventures at summer camp help treat the hearts of children affected by cancer.

"It's absolutely disgusting, but absolutely the best thing ever," said the 17-year-old Courtright, describing the dairy-product battle.

Courtright was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 1997 when she was a preschooler. She has attended Camp Goodtimes on Washington's Vashon Island for nine years as a camper, and last year she served as a leader-in-training. The American Cancer Society's Camp Goodtimes provides summer activities for child cancer survivors and patients undergoing treatment from Alaska and Washington.

"It's a week filled with laughter, joy and memories," Courtright said.

Children leave behind long hospital visits or painful treatments to take the ferry from Seattle to the camp. They are met with understanding amid youthful camp-style experiences.

"Everybody there is connected with cancer in some way," she said.

Memories from camp sustain children powerfully, Courtright said. "It's our own little fairy tale, and then we go back to reality and that's a bummer."

Last year, the American Cancer Society Alaska office sent 24 cancer survivors to the camp, "where they were able to run, play and just enjoy being a kid," said Sarah Robinson, district executive director.

EATS FOR CANCER

The American Cancer Society raises funds at the Anchorage Wine and Food Festival for Alaskan children to attend Camp Goodtimes. The event largely raises funds to support cancer research, education and services for Alaska cancer patients and caregivers. Last year, the festival raised more than $250,000 to fund the American Cancer Society's Alaska efforts, Robinson said.

This year's Anchorage Wine and Food Festival is from 6:30 p.m. to midnight, Feb. 6, at the Hotel Captain Cook. The event features a multi-course meal produced by top Alaska chefs and accompanied by carefully chosen wines.

Top Alaska chefs set to participate this year include: Al Levinsohn of Kincaid Grill, James Sheperd of Simon and Seafort's Saloon & Grill, Rob Kinneen of Orso, Patrick Hoogerhyde of Glacier Brewhouse and Van Hale of Marx Brothers Cafe. Other contributing food industry representatives will come from Crow's Nest, Cafe del Mundo, Seven Glaciers Restaurant and the...