Pizza: Food to fuel a marathon run

About 2-1/2 years ago, I was helping my dear friend Ellen Finkelstein set up for her a shalosh seudos in honor of her son’s bar mitzvah. All the cakes were prepared before shabbat except for some last minute touches. While working quickly to complete the setup before the guests arrived, I met Peri Finkelstein, who is Ellen’s niece. She was 11 at the time and I immediately fell in love with her. She was spunky, adorable, bright and full of life and laughter. She asked all sorts of questions about the cakes and how I made them. Her mom Lori said Peri became an instant fan of mine, I said what a coincidence, as I had become a fan of Peri’s.

Did I forget to mention that Peri has Namalin Rod Myopthy, which is a neuromuscular disorder? I tend to forget at times, as Peri is happier and more content than most children her age. In fact, after we became Facebook friends, I found myself checking her page when I am down about something; she always has something positive to say. Though she is much younger than me I found myself looking up to her.

Peri has been on a trache and a vent since she was two-and-a-half. She’s been through eight scoliosis surgeries and over 20 other surgeries in her 14 short years. She is also con-fined to a wheelchair, but does not let that get in her way of enjoying herself and most importantly helping others.

I was thrilled to be invited to her bat mitzvah. When I asked what I could get her as a gift, Lori said Peri didn’t want gifts, she wanted people to bring a toy to donate to the children’s floor at Winthrop-University Hospital so that other children who had to spend time there would be cheered up.

When it comes to chesed, Peri is first on line to lend a hand. She has run toy drives for Winthrop Child Life, donated over 300 boxes of Girl Scout cookies to be donated to the families on the pediatric ward, and delivered Purim baskets to each child in the ward over the past four years.

When asked by her friends what she would do if she won the lottery, without missing a beat, she said she would donate the money to Chai Lifeline. Her friends had to convince her to keep some for herself.