Diane Hawk Surgery Project


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Cook's Spicy Specialties Aid Fund-Raising Effort
Mexican Cooking for Diane Hawk Surgery Fund
News Release: June 15, 2003
Published in The Kingfisher Times and Free Press

Barbara Carpenter with daughters
©2003 Kingfisher Times and Free Press

“Put the rice in the oven when you get there, then the beans, and at least one tray of burritos!” Mexican cook Barbara Carpenter’s final instructions are delivered as tray after tray of delicious food is loaded in the car to be transported to the Mexican Dinner fund-raiser for the Diane Hawk Surgery Fund at the Lighthouse Praise and Worship Center.
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Barbara Carpenter and her daughters Catherine and Anna worked for hours last Wednesday and Thursday preparing the delicious meal, using almost a pound of spices in the burrito mix alone. A popular caterer of weddings, parties, and civic events, Carpenter’s business grew out of her door-to-door delivery of authentic Mexican delights to homes and businesses throughout the Guthrie and Kingfisher areas. Her serendipitous arrival at the home of Diane Hawk during a family meeting ended up in her volunteering for the cause of raising money for gastric by-pass surgery for Diane Hawk.

“I’ve known Diane for many years, and when I found out that her health was in danger, I was recruited!” she laughs. Carpenter overcame her own weight problem a few years ago, and in spite of being one of the best Mexican cooks around, remains surprisingly slim.

“I wasn’t always this way. I got just 4 pounds short of 200 pounds and I realized I’d better do something,” the tiny cook remembers, cutting up limes, onions and jalapenos to make salsa. “You see, I was a skinny 94 pounds when I got married – but then I sat home, had children, babysat for lots of nieces and nephews. Sometimes when you get depressed, you just eat.”

Barbara’s door-to-door tamale sales were sometimes interspersed with stops for quick, unhealthy snacks bought at convenience stores or gas stations. She realized she had a weight problem, and started taking her own healthy snacks from home. “I took fruit – apples, bananas – and I stopped drinking pop and drank water instead.” As she lost weight, many aches and pains disappeared – especially her headaches. Now she has more energy and good cheer, and lost a total of 55 pounds by simply changing her eating habits.

Barbara donated her cooking skills to the Diane Hawk Surgery Fund, charging nothing for her hard work for the fund-raising dinner. As she rushed around the kitchen for hours, stirring, cutting, chopping, peeling, and supervising the rolling of over 200 burritos, she probably burned as much energy as an aerobics class in full swing.

The result was a successful fund-raiser in which several hundred dollars were added to the fund. Along with recent donations from the Jackson Rancheria Tribe of California and the United Native Americans of Central Florida, the fund has now climbed to almost $7,000. “We are still $13,000 short of the goal,” said Diane Hawk, “But we’re getting there!”

Donations for Diane Hawk’s gastric bypass surgery are now being received by the Bariatric Institute of Oklahoma, Bariatric Institute of Oklahoma, 105 S. Bryant, Suite 105
Edmond, Oklahoma 73034 (405) 341-4913.

by Virginia Giglio, Times-Free Press Contributor
©2003 Kingfisher Times and Free Press
Please contact Kingfisher Times and Free Press for photo use permission.