Faith Methodist Church holds hosts chili lunch as fundraiser for local child

SIDNEY--On Saturday, November 16, 2024, Faith Methodist Church in Sidney hosted a fundraiser for Zayden Turja, a local youth going through costly medical issues, and his family looked for help from the community to help pay for his treatments. The family asked, and then they received a huge amount of help at the lunchtime fundraiser at the church, as a big crowd of supporters came to wish Zayden well and contribute to defraying the costs of his treatment.

Chili and cinnamon rolls and a bake and craft sale were the big attractions Saturday as a line of well-wishers formed outside the church to help Zayden. The Sun-Telegraph ran a story about him in our October 31 issue, as the young man, currently a sophomore in high school, suffers from a rare disorder that blocks his body from absorbing nutrients and causes difficulty with cell regeneration. For quite some time the family had no answer to what was wrong, but after many doctor's visits a specialist and a team of doctors were able to identify the problem and start an effective treatment regime. However, the treatments require quite a bit of travel, and the family was looking for help with some of these expenses. The big turnout on Saturday helps ensure that Zayden can get the care he needs to recover and get healthy.

About 120 people attended the fundraiser, and the attendees went through three 18-quart pans of chili and made 128 cinnamon rolls disappear. There was a silent auction and the winners were Richard Arellano, Richard McMannis and Dan Sears, who each won a one-year subscription to the Sun-Telegraph. Chuck and Nancy Liess won a charcuterie board, and Gayle Glover won a beautiful homemade quilt.

The family would like to thank all the members of the community who came out to support Zayden on his journey to better health and showed their caring and generosity