A wing-eating challenge for a special cause

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For one East Meadow mom, watching her stepdaughter lose her own mother was tough. So when Jessica Schiavone found out about a wing-eating contest in benefit of Camp Good Mourning — a camp that provides free grief camp programs for kids coping with the death of a parent or sibling — she knew she wanted to take part in it, in memory of her stepdaughter’s mother.

Bianca was 13 years old when her mother, Jennifer Schafer, died in April 2021 from a long battle with several health conditions at the age of 38. The two were very close, and lived together in Oceanside with Schafer’s mother. But after Bianca’s mother died, she came to live with her dad, Mark, and Jessica, along with her two step-siblings John and Sophia Cereoli, 16 and 13, respectively, and one half-sister, Lucy, 8, in East Meadow in July 2022.

“We’re trying to make it a good adjustment to East Meadow,” Jessica said. “I’m very involved with East Meadow Kiwanis and helping the community, so I’m trying to keep her spirits high and start a new life for Bianca here in East Meadow.”

Jessica found out about the wing-eating contest through East Meadow Kiwanis. She and Mark will be participating in Camp Good Mourning’s third annual Chicken Wing Eating Challenge on Feb. 4 at Levittown Hall. All money raised goes to CGM.

“It’s been such a hard transition, but I told her that we would be doing it in memory of her mother,” Jessica said. “I want her to know that we know she’s coping and that we’re doing it for her mother.”

Bianca —now 14 and a freshman at East Meadow High School — has been transitioning into life in East Meadow. She does dance and even joined EMHS’s track team.

“It was kind of hard at first, but some people made it better,” Bianca said. “I joined track before school started so that helped me too.”

Bianca and her mom were best friends, Jessica said. So to help the transition even more, the two try to do activities that keep the memory of Schafer alive.

“My mom was very kind and would always do everything for others and rarely think about herself,” Bianca said. “She loved to bake and do art stuff with me.”

Bianca said one of her favorite memories was going out for “girls days” with her mom. They would go to Artrageous, a pottery store in Rockville Centre, where you can decorate your own pottery.

Now, Jessica tries to take Bianca as much as she can to Artrageous to try to keep Jennifer’s memory alive.

Bianca also spends a lot of time baking, another activity she used to do with her mom. “Right now I love making cookies,” Bianca said. “I make sugar cookies and chocolate chip.”

This isn’t the first time that Mark has been in a food eating challenge, and Bianca thinks he’s going to win. “He’s crazy,” she joked. “But I think he’s going to win.”

“I’m no stranger to winning eating competitions,” Mark said. “My first pie eating contest, I think I was eight or nine, and I won the kids divisions so my parents decided to enter me in the adults one and I won that one too.”

He doesn’t seek them out, he said, but if they go out and see a food eating challenge, he’ll do it. “I’ve done less than 10,” he said. “But I’ve won them all.”

Bianca won’t be participating on Feb. 4 because she’s vegan, but she’ll be cheering on Jessica and her dad. “I think it’s a good cause, I thought it was good that they’re doing something for mommy.”