Krista Corner Havre Daily News kcorner@havredailynews.com
People who need to make their guests a delicious dish or treat but have no clue what that might be can find the answer from the Havre Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization. The PTO has cookbooks built with local recipes available for sale as their yearly fundraising activity. Cookbooks cost $15 and can be ordered through the the PTO members. Chair of the the PTO Cookbook Committee Tera Verploegen said the cookbook fundraiser idea was new this year. "We didn't want to send the kids door-to-door this year," she said, "so this is our only fundraiser. If we don't sell all the cookbooks, we will have that much less money for the teachers for next year." Local flavors fill the book's colorful pages. Elementary students and their families collected more than 500 of their personal recipes to make the book. Jumbo Jacks Cookbooks in Audobon, Iowa, printed the cookbooks for the PTO, though the PTO members were charged with organizing the many recipes. "We had to organize the recipes by category," Verploegen said. "If there were five different kind is of brownies we have to kind of group them together." The project began in January and the PTO members Collected the vast amount of recipes over two months. "We sent out the pre-order forms at the same time," Verploegen said. "It takes about two months to get the books printed and finalized." The pre-order cookbooks were brought home by elementary students Tuesday. Close to 200 pre-orders were received, Verploegen said, and the the PTO group is selling the other 500. The money from the sale of the cookbooks is put into a fund for various educational enhancements, she added. "It goes toward supplies, community concerts, activities and field trips," she said. To order a cookbook, community members can call Tera Verploegen at 945-4266, Andrea Keller at 265-2096, Michelle Gorecki at 395-5033 or Angela Twombly at 265-1154.
