WindHarvester
Bronze Member
ZANESVILLE -- Moved by images on television news, seeing how much the March 11 earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan tugged at Dillon Ryan's heartstrings.
"I wanted to help," the 6-year-old said.
While home sick from school, the Bishop Fenwick first-grader joined his mother, Tricia Ryan, in watching the "Today" morning show. Once he saw a girl selling her artwork to raise funds for relief efforts, he put on his thinking cap.
Dubbed the "Noodle Man" by his family, Dillon said one of his favorite activities is making noodles from farm-fresh eggs. To make this fundraising effort his own, Dillon decided to make and sell homemade egg noodles with the help of his loved ones.
"I wanted him to do something original," Tricia said. "I thought if we could do 20 batches and charge $5 for a batch, it would make $100. I got on my Facebook page and asked people what they thought about the idea; my page went crazy with people ordering them."
Any proceeds from noodle sales will be going to reputable organizations, Tricia said, such as the Red Cross or Save the Children.
Tricia said within a day of posting the suggestion, she received 20 orders. By Friday, she was already up to 60 orders.
"I never thought it would turn into what it has," she said. "I'll still take orders up to 200 batches, which is $1,000 (to donate)."
On Thursday, Dillon and Tricia began the task of filling the orders, first securing eggs to work with. Tricia said she prefers to work with farm-fresh eggs because "the fresher the better."
For each batch, four eggs are cracked and mixed in with flour, ice water and salt. Once the dough is mixed and rolled out, Tricia and Dillon run small sections through a cutting machine.
"That's my favorite part," Dillon said, hands caked with flour while manning the machine.
The thin strips that drop from the cutter are then laid out to dry, which can take up to 24 hours, Tricia said. Once dry, the noodles are placed in large Ziplock bags, ready to be picked up or delivered.
This has been a challenging undertaking, but the family and community have pulled together to support the young boy's outreach.
"We cleaned my brother, Todd Sands, out of eggs, and my brother, Tim Sands, gave us 25 pounds of flour," Tricia said. "It's become a family affair. And the Mennonite family up the road just gave us 14 dozen eggs. Everybody is helping out."
Tricia said the timing couldn't be better, as students at Bishop Fenwick are learning about the Easter season.
"It's the perfect time to do for others," she said. "His dad and I are proud that he tries to do for other people."
"This is awesome," said Ted Ryan, Dillon's father. "He loves to help people and gets so excited about it."
Tricia said she is pleased to see her son taking an interest in the world around him.
"He was watching the news and was talking all about the tsunami with me," she said. "I was just blown away."
FULL STORY BELOW:
http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder....ief-effort?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage
"I wanted to help," the 6-year-old said.
While home sick from school, the Bishop Fenwick first-grader joined his mother, Tricia Ryan, in watching the "Today" morning show. Once he saw a girl selling her artwork to raise funds for relief efforts, he put on his thinking cap.
Dubbed the "Noodle Man" by his family, Dillon said one of his favorite activities is making noodles from farm-fresh eggs. To make this fundraising effort his own, Dillon decided to make and sell homemade egg noodles with the help of his loved ones.
"I wanted him to do something original," Tricia said. "I thought if we could do 20 batches and charge $5 for a batch, it would make $100. I got on my Facebook page and asked people what they thought about the idea; my page went crazy with people ordering them."
Any proceeds from noodle sales will be going to reputable organizations, Tricia said, such as the Red Cross or Save the Children.
Tricia said within a day of posting the suggestion, she received 20 orders. By Friday, she was already up to 60 orders.
"I never thought it would turn into what it has," she said. "I'll still take orders up to 200 batches, which is $1,000 (to donate)."
On Thursday, Dillon and Tricia began the task of filling the orders, first securing eggs to work with. Tricia said she prefers to work with farm-fresh eggs because "the fresher the better."
For each batch, four eggs are cracked and mixed in with flour, ice water and salt. Once the dough is mixed and rolled out, Tricia and Dillon run small sections through a cutting machine.
"That's my favorite part," Dillon said, hands caked with flour while manning the machine.
The thin strips that drop from the cutter are then laid out to dry, which can take up to 24 hours, Tricia said. Once dry, the noodles are placed in large Ziplock bags, ready to be picked up or delivered.
This has been a challenging undertaking, but the family and community have pulled together to support the young boy's outreach.
"We cleaned my brother, Todd Sands, out of eggs, and my brother, Tim Sands, gave us 25 pounds of flour," Tricia said. "It's become a family affair. And the Mennonite family up the road just gave us 14 dozen eggs. Everybody is helping out."
Tricia said the timing couldn't be better, as students at Bishop Fenwick are learning about the Easter season.
"It's the perfect time to do for others," she said. "His dad and I are proud that he tries to do for other people."
"This is awesome," said Ted Ryan, Dillon's father. "He loves to help people and gets so excited about it."
Tricia said she is pleased to see her son taking an interest in the world around him.
"He was watching the news and was talking all about the tsunami with me," she said. "I was just blown away."
FULL STORY BELOW:
http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder....ief-effort?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage
He should turn into a pretty good man.
