Ella's Pi(e) Day Celebration 2021

Many celebrate 3.14 as Pi Day, but we celebrate for a different reason.

Our daughter, Ella, was born on 3.14.09, and passed away just three days later due to complications of a fetal-maternal hemorrhage.  As a way to honor her memory, our family has dessert for dinner on 3.14, and in the past few years, we've asked you all to join us in celebration.  In 2020, in conjunction with the annual Ella's Pi(e) Day Celebration, we raised $9100 for the Social Work fund at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia NICU.  These funds paid for 3 funerals and bought cribs for 7 families of NICU patients.  Beyond that, the money has been used to help those families that are struggling with the day to day financial burden of a child in the NICU.  For some background - the average CHOP NICU family is there for 30 days and lives over 60 miles away.  That means 30 days of transportation to and from the facility, 90 meals, time away from work and many other unforeseen expenses.  For some, this actually may mean the need for alternative housing while their children are in the NICU.   We hope we can again help CHOP support families in need with these unexpected expenses that occur due to having a child in the NICU.  

This year, due to COVID, we had to get creative to figure out how we could capture the joy of Ella's Pi(e) Day in a virtual format.  We are so thankful that Instagram chef/rising star Jake Cohen (@jakecohen) has generously volunteered his time to teach a class to honor Ella's birthday.  Not only is Jake a Culinary Institute of America grad, he also previously worked at several notable NYC foodie institutions, Saveur Magazine's test kitchen, as Food Editor of TastingTable.com and as a Food Critic for Time Out New York.  He is currently the Editorial and Test Kitchen Director of Feedfeed, and his upcoming cookbook Jew-Ish has generated an insane amount of buzz.  

Thanks to Mr. Cohen's generosity, ALL the money we raise will go towards the CHOP NICU Social Work fund.  We hope you can join us on 3.14.21 at 5pm EST on Zoom as we laugh, learn the ins and outs of pie making and celebrate what would have been Ella's 12th birthday.   Zoom information and a shopping list will be emailed separately closer to the event.

We greatly appreciate any amount that you can donate, but are requesting a minimum donation of $54 to participate in the Zoom class.  Participation tiers have been established based on the Jewish principal of Chai (meaning "life" and in numerology, 18).  Once you click the donate button, select Other and type in one of the amounts below (or more :)). 

$54 -You receive a ticket to the Zoom class (this subsidizes lunch for 1 week for a low income CHOP family)

$72- You Receive a ticket to the Zoom class and a special gift (a CHOP family receives one night in a discounted hotel for those families that cannot commute daily)

$180 - You receive all of the above and an entry into a raffle for a 4 and 20 Blackbirds Cookbook and gift certificate. 4 and 20 Blackbirds is consistently on the Top 10 Pie Lists in the US. (A CHOP NICU family gets 2 nights in a discounted hotel and 2 days of meals)

$252-You receive all of the above and a copy of Jake Cohen's Jew-ish (While covering half the costs of a funeral for a NICU patient)

$360-You receive all of the above and a signed copy of Jake Cohen's Jew-ish  (A CHOP family can stay at the Ronald McDonald house for 3 weeks)