A food blogger who posts about the city’s foodie delights has raised more than £3,000 for charity in less than a month after her father died from cancer.
Kerre Chen who runs the account @indpndntshef on Instagram and has more than 23k followers, began a fundraiser following the death of her father at the end of last month.
Jin Wang Chen, who used to run the KH Oriental supermarket in Sheffield’s New Era Square, died aged 66 on January 31 following a short battle with stage four pancreatic cancer.
When talking about her father, 28-year-old Kerre said: “He is part of why I am so passionate about food and his love language has always been cooking for me.
“He is a well-known man in the local community by running KH Oriental Supermarket and will be missed by many,”
According to Pancreatic Cancer UK, more than half of the people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer die within three months and only 3 in 5 people can be diagnosed at an advanced stage.
While survival rates have improved significantly for most cancers, pancreatic cancer still yet has one of the lowest survival statistics, which in the UK is 7%. It means that only 7 out of 100 people are alive, five years after their diagnosis.
“It is really hard to diagnose pancreatic cancer and that’s why I decided to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer UK, which is the biggest pancreatic cancer charity in the UK to provide support, fund research, and campaign for change because there’s much more research has to be done for this cancer,” said Kerre, who lives in the Eccleshall area.
Initially, Kerre started the fundraiser by selling homemade white rabbit cookies at Chinese new year events, and later she started an online raffle collaborating with more than 40 local independent businesses.
“I will also be sending 20% of the donation money to the Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal because it is important to help the country and do our part,” added Kerre.
Kerre’s cousin Dominic NG, said: “Kerre has always gone out of her way to help others – a star going the extra mile to help those in need. Despite this difficult time Kerre has been tremendous in her fundraising efforts for pancreatic cancer.
“Not only has she been baking, selling, packaging and delivering batches of cookies, she is now hosting a wonderful raffle in aid of this cause. She has received support from many independent Sheffield businesses including raffle prizes.
“The prizes for this raffle are great but the cause is even greater. Just £1 can really help increase awareness and help those who have gone through the same as Jin Wang Chen.”
Dominic added: “Jin has always been proud of Kerre and would be even more so now.”
Anyone who wants to donate to the fundraiser can do so via the link on Kerre’s Instagram page.