A GROUP of celebrity chefs and local home style cooks are providing a recipe for the good health of the Keith & District Hospital.
The small community was in danger of having the doors of its community run hospital close 2.5 years ago after the State Government withdrew a proportion of its annual funding.
After a very public battle, the government awarded a one-off grant of $350,000 to the hospital which has given it some reprieve although its future is still not guaranteed beyond 2012-2013 financial year.
In the past two years, the Keith community has raised $450,000 in pledges and donations through various fundraising efforts.
The latest is a glossy coffee table cookbook with a long list of names, including Maggie Beer, Stephanie Alexander, Simon Bryant, Kylie Kwong and Ben O'Donoghue all contributing recipes.
There is also a chocolate cheesecake recipe from former Port Adelaide Football Club coach Matthew Primus, almond bread from Adelaide Football Club coach Brenton Sanderson and Amanda Blair's brownies.
Since its launch in late November, nearly all of the 2000 copies of Limestone-Timeless Recipes, from chefs and celebrities have been sold. The first order is expected to raise $60,000 for the hospital. An order for a second print-run has been placed.
The cookbook was the brainchild of Louise Hannemann, who was flicking through Interesting Recipes from Intersting People, a fundraising cookbook for the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, when the idea came to her nearly 18 months ago.
"I thought we could do something like that. I had a cousin that worked at Master Chef so we got recipes from Matt (Preston) and George (Calombaris) and then got thinking of who else we knew," she said.
"Letters were sent to hundreds of people and the response was tremendous."
* More in Stock Journal's January 3 edition.
