10-year-old boy who beat cancer traveled across the country to learn how Wisconsin cheese is made.
ST. CLOUD – Maxx Ball, a 10-year-old from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who beat cancer, recently got a behind-the-scenes look at Sargento Foods Inc.’s cheese-making process.
In partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Ball and his family traveled to Wisconsin before Thanksgiving, meeting Gov. Tony Evers and visiting the Center for Dairy Research, House on the Rock, Lambeau Field, Road America and Sargento’s Baker Cheese Plant.
Maxx was granted the wish after winning nearly a yearlong fight against Ewing sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer that fewer than 5,000 people have in the United States, according to estimates from the National Institutes of Health.
At the Baker Cheese facility, Maxx and his family got a tour and made their own string cheese.
“He helped us put some of the ingredients, did some tests for us. Things that a 10-year-old kid can do with a little bit of training and supervision,” Brian Baker, general manager at Baker Cheese Plant, said. “It was a lot of fun. And he really enjoyed it and so did we.”
Maxx Ball, 10, of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, pours salt on cheese curds under the supervision of a Sargento Baker Cheese facility employee, Tuesday, November 22, 2022, in St. Cloud, Wis. Ball, who has beaten a form of bone cancer got his chance to see string cheese being made at the plant through Make-A-Wish.
Baker said Maxx was very engaged and had a lot of questions, like how the facility keeps milk from spoiling, how long it takes to make cheese and how many sticks are made in a day.
“He (Maxx) definitely used ‘This is awesome!’ quite a bit,” Baker said. “He had a lot of smiles, as did his younger sister and the parents.”
Although Sargento has been a long-time supporter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, this is the first wish the company has been able to grant, Karen Lepisto, vice president of human resources and community relations for Sargento, said.
“(It) is a unique wish to be granted, you know, versus Disney or…
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