The South Hills' favorite Italian cook is once again cooking up a culinary storm for a good cause. Only this time around, Lucia Facco's prowess will benefit not just fellow parishioners at St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church in Bethel Park but also a group of young girls in Africa.

On Nov. 7, the Upper St. Clair resident will prepare an Italian meal for 1,000 of her closest friends to raise money for Hekima Place, a boarding school in Nairobi, Kenya, for girls who have been orphaned or abandoned by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The school was started in 2005 by former Mt. Lebanon resident Kate Fletcher, with the support of local churches and organizations.

Mrs. Facco, if you recall, shot to celebrity status this spring when she agreed to supplement St. Thomas More's Lenten fish fries with her signature homemade pastas. They turned out to be such a hit that by the time Easter rolled around, more than 1,500 diners were lining up for the Friday night meal -- more than twice the number expected.

Event chair Janet Hauge, who sits on Hekima Place's board of directors, agrees it would have been nice to serve traditional Kenyan cuisine at the fundraiser. But delicious as dishes such as mtuzi wa samaki (fish in coconut curry) and irio (mashed peas, potato and corn) might be, Americans can be finicky when it comes to a church dinner.

"There's not really any African food that would draw a crowd," she said.

Mrs. Facco's all-fresh, all-local cooking, which traces its roots to Calabria in southern Italy, is a tasty compromise.

"It's wonderful," says Mrs. Hauge. "It's not your average Italian meal."

Tickets to the dinner (4 to 9 p.m.) cost $12 for adults and $6 for children age 12 and under. It includes an appetizer, salad and a choice of Mrs. Facco's meat or pesto lasagna, along with dessert. Beer and wine also will be available for purchase.

Proceeds will be used to build six cottages on 10 acres at the foot of the Ngong Hills in southern Kenya's Great Rift Valley that Mrs. Fletcher, 71, purchased this summer with $30,000 in donations thrown in the offering basket from as far away as Atlanta, Bedford, N.Y., and London, Ontario. (The girls are currently housed in a rental property on a far corner of Danish author Karen Blixen's estate on the outskirts of Nairobi.) Each will house up to 12 girls between the ages of 18 months and 18 years, and the site will also boast a central dining hall, says Mrs. Hauge, who got involved with the project after hearing Mrs. Fletcher speak in 2007.

"We wanted to keep a home environment," she explains.

With an $800,000 price tag, Hekima Place's permanent home will require about three years of continuous fundraising. But its board of directors is confident Pittsburghers will prove themselves generous. To spur things on, the dinner will include a 50/50 raffle and a silent auction for a Hines Ward Steelers jersey. Organizers also will be selling authentic Kenyan arts and crafts.

Mrs. Fletcher is returning from Kenya to join the festivities and talk about the home, and local college students who recently volunteered on site also will share their experiences.

The church will only serve 1,000, so advance purchase at the St. Thomas More Parish office (at 125 Ft. Couch Road in Bethel Park, across from South Hills Village Mall) is recommended.

Direct donations to Hekima Place also can be made online at hekimaplace.org.

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