'Hungry for a Cure' returning for 6th year

If you’ve ever tasted Lori Boffi’s homemade baked goods, wait until Sunday, Oct. 5, when the Johnston Card$mart owner holds her annual Hungry for a Cure fundraising dinner.

“I figured if all my customers enjoyed my bake sales, then they will also flip over what we’ve got planned in the way of homemade pastries for our annual dinner,” Boffi said.

For the sixth time in as many years, Boffi has set out to continue her ongoing fight to battle cancer.

“I’ve raised lots of money for the American Cancer Society and the former Relay For Life,” she said. “Now, we have two other important groups that we really want to help in a big, big way.”

Boffi announced that the sixth annual Hungry for a Cure dinner will benefit the Brown University Oncology Research Group (BrUOG) and the Johnston Memorial Cancer Events (JMCE) Campfires for Cancer, the latter of which is closing on reaching the $100,000 donation mark for the Oncology-Hematology Units at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence.

Boffi’s bash is open to the public and will be held on Sunday, Oct. 5, beginning at 12:30 p.m. inside the spacious main dining room at the Cranston Country Club.

The event features a family-style, all-you-can-eat Sunday dinner – Italian style – that will prepared under the careful care of chef Vin Martucci and his staff that operates the kitchen at Cranston Country Club.

Boffi said the menu is divided into two parts – the family-style dinner consisting of salad, pasta, roasted chicken, roasted potatoes, green bean almandine, coffee and ice cream, and Boffi’s famous homemade pastry table that in past year has drawn rave reviews from each and every attendee.

“It’s not a pastry table for people who are dieting,” Boffi said. “But what the heck, even those people who are on strict diets can cheat once-in-a while. At least I do.”

Tickets are priced at only $30 per person and $10 for children under age 12.

The Oct. 5 fundraising dinner will also feature raffles with a myriad of quality prizes and a silent auction with many valuable items that will range from jewelry to sports memorabilia.

Boffi is also asking attendees to bring a canned good, which her committee will donate to the St. Robert Bellarmine Roman Catholic Church food cupboard.

People who are interested in attending the fundraiser may call Card$mart at 401-270-5291 or stop by the store at 1507 Atwood Ave. in Johnston.