The Amish Cook Friend Club

Joining The Amish Cook Friend Club is a fun way to keep the column publishing and help Lovina in her battle against Muscular Dystrophy. There are several levels of support that you can offer the column:BASIC ONE-YEAR MEMBERSHIP $10:  thank you note and recipe for "marriage meatloaf."ONE-YEAR SILVER $25: thank you note and a packet of 25 unpublished recipes from The Amish Cook recipe archives.ONE-YEAR GOLD $50 all of the above, plus an 8 X 10 photo of a suppertime scene at Lovina's and a copy of The Amish Recipe Project Cookbook.SUPER SUPPORTER, $100.00:  all of the above, plus a complimentary copy of Abraham's Redemption when it is released.

WHY THE FRIEND CLUB?

 A year ago this summer,  the Eichers and my wife and I spent some time in Florida’s Amish community doing some book-signings and celebrating the column’s 20^thanniversary.   I have lasting memories of the journey and I savor it even more since it was sort of the calm before the storm of a very tough year ahead for the Eichers.  One of my favorite trip memories is of Loretta tentatively wading into the warm Gulf water, holding my wife’s hand. Loretta  grew more confident in the shallow sea water and the two of them enjoyed their time together in the waves. Loretta is Lovina’s fun-loving  daughter who loves to joke around but also quick to embrace Jesus as her Savior.  She’s a precocious blend of fun and faith.   Verena has always had a more studious streak than her more ornery younger sister.  She’s an A student, extraordinarily intelligent,  and also very much devoted to her church and family.It was especially jarring after seeing both so happy and healthy only months earlier to be diagnosed with a disease   that slowly, cruelly robs a person of their mobility.  While I know God is the final arbiter, I’ve known the family over half my life and I want to do anything I can to see that their future is as full as possible.I occupy an awkward patch of real estate that doubles as Lovina’s friend but also her editor.  I have known Lovina over half my life.  So I have a friend to care for, but also a business to run.  And the intersection of the two can sometimes be congested and confusing.  I’m trying to navigate it.     Being  of the Old Order Amish faith, Lovina is limited in what she’ll do as far as public exposure, but that’s a bargain I signed on for 20 some years ago.  It often makes it tough to do this column without an accompanying TV or major publishing package, but we persevereIf Lovina needed strawberries, cardboard boxes, or socks to solve her problem, I’d be appealing to readers for those things.  The fact is, though, that prayers and funds are what are most needed.  The battle against this disease will be a long struggle, family will need ramps built, medical equipment, and ongoing treatment.  The Amish community is great at helping their own and there will be plenty  but I would be remiss in not trying to marshal whatever resources I have to bear.  Lovina will also need a job, and the Amish Cook column is that.  So I’m caught on the awkward cusp of trying to help her and her job.  The Amish Cook Friend Club does both, with 100 percent of the proceeds benefitting Lovina  by being given directly to her or being reinvested in the column, which helps her job.  The long-term solution continues to be for us to continue to publish books that you will buy, have a great website, keep the column coming each week, and just keep doing what we are doing. We need that and the Friend Club makes all of that possible.

It is heart-breaking for me to think of Lovina’s daughters being wheelchair bound and slowly losing their mobility and while I’m probably powerless to stop the disease’s progression,  I can do what I can do to at least ease its advance. Reaching out to readers and publicizing this disease are two items in my arsenal, and I’m going to use them.