AREA TEENAGER WHIPS UP COOKBOOK TO FUND TRIP.

Byline: Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

COTTAGE GROVE - Breakfast cookies ... upside-down caramel corn bread ... wild rice salad ... potato loaf ... chewy gooeys ... Lucie's bread pudding ... .

Mouth watering yet?

Sean Snyder hopes so.

The 14-year-old eighth-grader at Lincoln Middle School - with help from his mom and sister - has put together a cookbook that he hopes will help raise the money he needs to pay for a trip to Europe with the People to People Student Ambassador Program in July.

Called "Favorite Recipes of Cottage Grove, All-America City," the book offers breakfast foods, appetizers, soups, salads, entrees, desserts - lots of desserts - and snacks, from the kitchens of area cooks.

Snyder learned in December that he had been accepted to the program started by President Dwight Eisenhower - commonly known as `Ike' - back in the 1950s at the height of the Cold War.

Eisenhower reasoned that if people throughout the world got to know one another as "citizen ambassadors," they'd be more trusting and less likely to want to go to war.

`Indeed, I believe (people) want peace so badly that the governments will just have to step aside and let them have it,' Ike said back then.

In the decades since, thousands of adults and students from Europe, Asia, North America and the South Pacific have made people-to-people treks to learn about one another's cultures and governments and to spend time in one another's homes.

These days, it's not a cheap trip - tuition, air fare and ground travel, and lodging and meals for the 20 days come to $6,000 - so Snyder had to find a way to come up with some cash.

Capitalizing on Cottage Grove's success in being designated one of 10 All-America Cities last year by the National Civic League, the middle-schooler figured there should be plenty of demand for a collection of tasty, tried-and-true recipes from city officials, business people and residents in the community.

So he started asking around.

"I walked all around town and handed out fliers, asking people if they wanted to be in my cookbook," Snyder said. "About 50 people gave me recipes - most of them gave me two - and I ended up with about 80 recipes for the book."

Besides the directions for all the dishes, Snyder's cookbook offers snippets of Cottage Grove history and a paragraph about each of the contributors.

Luckily - thanks to some generous support from the community - he won't have to amass the entire $6,000 through sales. Copies of the book, which will sell for $18, net Snyder $13 apiece toward his trip.

Early on, Robbie Robinson, owner of Starfire Lumber, chipped in $250 to the cause.

Snyder's mother, Karen, said she has been able to give him a bit of a boost.

Last week, Snyder learned that the Cottage Grove-based Woodard Foundation plans to give him a $1,000 grant.

And the staff at the Best Little Printhouse in Town in downtown Cottage Grove has helped with design and layout, and has offered to print the cookbook as needed to meet demand.

Snyder will hold a book-signing party on Thursday at The Bookmine on Cottage Grove's Main Street.

"We'll be serving samples of foods made from the recipes in the cookbook," Karen Snyder said.

"One of the greatest things about this project has been how it's such a reflection of the community. Because of that, for Sean, this experience goes far beyond the trip itself."

BOOK SIGNING

Sean Snyder will sign copies of his book, `Favorite Recipes of Cottage Grove, All-America City'

When: Thursday, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Where: The Bookmine, 702 E. Main St., Cottage Grove

Information: 942-7414 or 767-9026

CAPTION(S):

Sean Snyder, 14, an eighth-grader at Lincoln Middle School in Cottage Grove, hopes the sales of his `Favorite Recipes' will help fund his People to People trip to Europe.