A Highlands Ranch couple wants to share their culture with the world—in a cookbook project.

Gerard and Mary Aflague included more than 100 recipes in their book, Chamoru Cuisine.

But the creation of a cultural cookbook of Guam and the Marianas will require money. So Gerard and Mary Aflague turned to Kickstarter, a website designed to raise funds.

“We’re making progress,” said Gerard Aflague, Chamoru author and owner of the GerardAflagueCollection.com, a Chamoru-themed, online, micro business based in Colorado.

www.KickStarter.com – The New York-based, technology company, Kickstarter, serves as a funding platform for creative projects that include everything from films, games, music, art, design and technology. Publishing a book falls under these categories. Since its inception in 2009, Kickstarter has raised $4.4 million for more than 165,000 projects.

With an ambitious goal of $30,000, the Aflagues hope to raise the total amount by August 4, 2019. They started the kickstarter project last June 4. As of June 26, 2019, the Aflagues received 93 backers for a total of $8,306, reaching 21 percent of its goal.

Gerard Aflague confessed, “We don’t know if we’re going to hit our goal.”

Project – The funding will go towards publishing a beautiful, artistic, hardcover book, showcasing more than 350 pages about the Chamoru culture. Measuring about 7.5 X 9.5 inches, the cookbook includes a variety of features including recipes, vivid photographs of the food and the history of culinary delights from the island.

To be more specific, funding will pay for associated material to develop content, copyediting work, fees for licensing of images, cost for printing plus freight handling. If the project runs smoothly, the estimated release date is January 2020.

Roadblocks – Aflague shared the confusion of understanding the pledge package, how people are charged, what it means to be a sponsor.

“Too much text is pushing people away, even orienting newcomers,” he said. The charges won’t occur until the end of the campaign but that point is confusing for anyone visiting the website for the first time.

Pledges – Pledges are coming in daily. Aflague shared only one or two days showed no activities. Packages are available for anyone who wants to participate in this project funding with these options: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Marianas, Family, Fundraiser, and Educational.

Interested in seeing your name as a supporter of this book? Then purchasing the bronze option is the way to go. Or if you want an autographed cookbook, check out the silver and gold options. You can donate even $1 just to have bragging rights about this project.

You can support this project by visiting www.kickstarter.com/projects/1857857055/help-publish-a-legacy-of-chamoru-culture-and-cuisine.

Follow Mary Jeneverre Schultz on Instagram @Jeneverre.