Rotary Pancake Breakfasts

Hit The Four-Decade Mark

By Shannon Hicks

Members of Rotary Club of Newtown began arriving at the Alexandria Room of Edmond Town Hall last Saturday morning at 5:30 am to prepare for the club’s 40th annual pancake breakfast. A social outing for many, the breakfast is also a fundraiser for the service club.

When doors opened for the public at 8, the grills were ready and pancakes were cooked steadily until the doors closed five hours later. Along the way hundreds of people enjoyed pancakes and sausage, coffee, orange juice, and a lot of mingling.

Mr Senete’s description of the turnout as “good” was something of an understatement.

“We look at this as primarily a social event,” Mr Senate said Saturday morning. “You can tell by the admission [$5 for adults, $3 age ten and under] that we aren’t going to make a ton of money, but people enjoy this.” Not only does the public enjoy the annual occasion, but Rotarians seem to as well. Forty of Newtown’s current membership of 50 showed up to help out on Saturday.

Because Rotary is an organization dedicated to local, regional, and international service, the money that was collected at the door has been earmarked for a few allocations. Half of the proceeds from Saturday’s breakfast will go into the fund being collected by Rotary District 7980, of which Newtown is a member. The district covers the four lower counties of Connecticut and collecting money for a children’s shelter in Haiti.

The remainder of Saturday’s proceeds will be used on the local level, Mr Senete said, for children’s events in Newtown.

In addition to the breakfast, diners also had chances to win door prizes that had been donated by local businesses Newtown Farm & Garden Center, Lexington Gardens, Starbucks, The Jungle, Hollandia, and Steck’s Nursery. Rotary member Joan Gallagher also donated a handmade quilt for the raffle. Additionally, Starbucks donated the coffee for the breakfast event and the sausage was all provided by Super Stop & Shop.