By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — A teenager’s dream came true Monday when several local chefs helped Aaron James make and serve food from a food truck. 

The 17-year-old , diagnosed with cancer five years ago and in remission now, was granted his wish to prepare food for others, courtesy of the Make A Wish Foundation, which grants wishes to critically ill children.

A food festival of sorts was held at the Westport restaurant Don Memo, with about 50 of Aaron’s relatives and friends in attendance. The food, which included tacos and oysters, was prepared by Aaron and several of the area’s top chefs, who had also helped raise money to grant the teen’s wish.

“Cooking has always been something I want to do,” Aaron said as he rolled tacos and made filling inside the food truck. The Milford teen said he plans to go to culinary school when he graduates this year from Fairchild Wheeler High School, a regional magnet school in Bridgeport.

“He’s always in the kitchen,” said his mother Sandy James, who was a chef herself. “He’s having a great time today. He’s been all smiles.”

Aaron was diagnosed with cancer in eighth grade, and has been involved with the Make A Wish Foundation since he began receiving treatments at the Smilow Cancer Hospital in New Haven. “He’s cancer free right now … knock on wood,” his mother said.

Aaron’s father, Jason James, a retired Greenwich firefighter who is now a firefighter in Naugatuck, called his son “super excited … he always wanted to do this.” Jason James, who also cooks at the firehouse, added the whole family had come to support Aaron.

Several Westport chefs have been involved in the Make A Wish Foundation for several years, helping to grant children’s wishes, including Bill Taibe, who hosted the Monday evening gathering at his restaurant, Don Memo. He also owns The Whelk and Kawa Ni restaurants in Westport.

“It’s been a priority in my life,” he said of helping grant wishes for children with cancer. “I think we can have an impact that we can see and recognize … you get to know them, to be a part of it.”

Jessica Bengtson, executive chef at Terrain Garden Café and Amis Trattoria in Westport, has been working with another child in the Make A Wish program. 

At the Aaron’s gathering, Bengston was passing around oysters and tacos. “I love these people, I love what they do,” she said of both the staff of Make A Wish and fellow restaurant chefs who helped put the event together.

“In the Westport food scene, we’re one big family,” she said.

The local chefs had worked together on “Taste of Wishes,” an April fundraiser in Norwalk, where $22,000 was raised for the Make A Wish Foundation, some of which was used to fund Monday’s gathering, according to Allison Goodman, events manager of the foundation. 

Aaron’s wish fulfillment evening evolved from that earlier fundraiser after the chefs decided to work together again to help grant his wish.

The Make A Wish Foundation of Connecticut granted 117 wishes in the past year, according to Tara Navara, chief development officer. That was fewer than the average of about 250 wishes granted annually because the COVID pandemic prevented travel, which is involved in many wishes requested by children, she said.

However, the inability to travel gave some children the opportunity to come up with creative ideas closer to home, Goodman said. One girl wanted to meet a ballerina and have dance lessons, and a boy wanted to patent a health-related device that helped with his treatment.

One benefit of wishes granted by the foundation this year, she said, is that they help youngsters with cancer think ahead to what they might be able to pursue someday.

“To see what that would look like … to envision a future.”

Gretchen Webster is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to Westport Journal. Learn more about us here.