Chef creates gingerbread masterpieces to help kids

FLORIDA WEEKLY PHOTO MICHELLE START Nancy Dix inhales the scent of gingerbread at Olde Hickory's gingerbread house auction. The auction brought in more than $24,000, which will help offset expenses for children dealing with cancer or blood illnesses. Designed with gumdrops, candy canes and frosting, the Olde Hickory Golf and Country Club's annual gingerbread auction brought in more than $24,000 last Sunday.

The proceeds will benefit Barbara's Friends, a fund for children in Southwest Florida dealing with pediatric cancer and blood disorders.

"One hundred percent of the money goes to the kids and supports families," said Frank Haskell, who started Barbara's Friends 13 years ago after his 36-year-old daughter died of breast cancer. "Fifty percent of the children we treat here have no insurance. We're making sure no child is ever turned away."

He said 100 children a week are treated at The Children's Hospital with either cancer or blood-related health issues.

Since its inception, Barbara's Friends has raised more than $8 million.

This was the fifth year that Olde Hickory held the annual auction.

The 22 houses and train are created by Olde Hickory general manager Fritz Bubeck, who is a trained chef. For weeks before the auction, he bakes fresh gingerbread, cuts and assembles it before finally decorating each piece with candies and frosting that hangs from some roofs like icicles.

"My mother taught me how to do it when I was 6 or 7 years old," said Bubeck, 62. "I was one of three boys and we used to watch her make them. Once you make one for so many years, it becomes very easy. I can almost do it in my dreams. You just use your imagination and do what you think is best."

Before the auction began, Bonita Springs resident Nancy Dix, 61, stopped to appreciate the tiny houses and enjoy the smell that permeated that clubhouse.

"They look beautiful and they smell wonderful," she said. "The windmill is awfully cute. What a talented baker and artist he is. He is certainly talented."

Lee Crowther Sr. and Linda See have supported the auction for many years.

"I think over the years we have had everything up there. We had the train twice," said See, 57. "I ended up taking it to school, at Diplomat Elementary, and it was there for five or six years."

Crowther said there was even a year that the auction made national news.

"It's a great organization," he said.