California Pizza Kitchen to Host Benefit for the Chelsea Hicks Foundation Wednesday

TIGARD, OR – Though they often work together to save lives and keep their respective communities safe, a competition in Tigard Wednesday will pit local law enforcement officers against firefighters as they battle a different kind of challenge: cooking pizza.

To raise money for the Chelsea Hicks Foundation, representatives from the Tigard Police Department and Clackamas County Sheriff's Office will compete against firefighters from the Lake Oswego Fire Department and Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue to make the best pizza possible at the California Pizza Kitchen, 7315 S.W. Bridgeport Rd. in Tigard’s Bridgeport Village, beginning at 5:30 p.m. April 12.

Anyone who mentions the Iron Chef Charitable Competition when dining at California Pizza Kitchen Wednesday night will see 20 percent of their check donated to the Chelsea Hicks Foundation, a local nonprofit that provides therapeutic play at sick kids at Doernbecher and Randall Children’s hospitals.

Named for Chelsea Hicks, who at 5 years old lost her battle to cancer in February 2009, the Foundation takes costumes to the local children’s hospitals once per month to give kids struggling through sickness "a spark of happiness," according to Jason Hicks, Chelsea's father.

"It's an amazing transformation," Hicks told Patch Tuesday, noting the way something as simple as a costume can pull a child out of the sometimes-tragic reality in which they live for at least a few moments of fantasy and freedom. And it's something both the public safety agencies and the hosting California Pizza Kitchen are more than willing to get behind.

In fact, just last week the pizza kitchen held its annual Bunny Breakfast, which saw 100 percent of the proceeds taken on April 8 donated to the Chelsea Hicks Foundation. According to Christine Garcia, manager and spokeswoman for California Pizza Kitchen, getting involved with local charities is part of the company’s mission.

Wednesday's event marks the third time the kitchen has hosted the Iron Chef competition, with Team Fire winning both the previous years.

"I'm feeling bad for the cops –– they're 0 – 2," said Hicks, himself a former firefighter with friends still working at the Gladstone and Lake Oswego fire departments. "They're all good people, though, and they do wonderful things."

It's not often enough, Hicks said, that police (especially) get opportunities to interact with the public outside of emergency situations. And for all the care local public safety agencies have shown his family during and after Chelsea's sickness, Hicks hopes these events do a bit of good for them as well.

"It's really difficult to beat these firefighters as they have quite a bit of free time to work on their culinary skills," joked Robby Nishif, deputy with the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office. "I've really taken to cooking the past couple years and have a great time coming up with new recipes of my own aside from pizza-making. This year they gave us the ingredients list up front so I have time to come up with something really different and tasty at the same time."

This is Nishif's third year competing. Returning for their second year to represent TVF&R are Lts. Genaro Esparza and Al Pimentel.

According to TVF&R spokesman Stefan Myers, both firefighters are fathers to young kids and said they were proud to support the Chelsea Hicks Foundation and children who are facing a cancer diagnosis.

When asked if they were ready to go, Esparza and Pimentel said in a statement, "We are excited to partner with our brothers and sisters in law enforcement and raise a lot of money for a great cause. However, when it comes to the competition –– if you can’t stand the heat, you are probably a police officer and should get out of the kitchen."

"It really is a great time and full of friendly competitions and camaraderie," Nishif said. "I think we've got a very good chance with my new partner (CCSO Deputy Ben Toops) who's super eager to dive in … and knock off the reigning champs. Go Law Enforcement!"

To learn more about the Chelsea Hicks Foundation and find ways to donate, visit chelseahicksfoundation.org.

This post was updated to include comments from Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue.

Image via Pixabay.com