Wednesday, January 22, 2003
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Wednesday, January 22, 2003 |
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Pancake breakfast to benefit local organizations By MICHAEL
BOYLAN Cancel those dinner plans for Friday night. You'll want to save room for Saturday's 11th annual Peachtree City Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast at McIntosh High School. Over 2,300 people enjoyed the all you can eat breakfast of pancakes and sausage last year and the event seems to grow in popularity each year. In addition, to the delicious food that has people looking forward to the breakfast each year, visitors have their choice of beverage including coffee, tea, milk and orange juice. "Our first year we had just over 1,000 people attend," said Peachtree City Kiwanis Member Butch Hill, who has chaired the event since day one. "It is always one of the group's biggest fundraisers." Last year, the pancake breakfast raised close to $13,000, all of which went back into the community. Among the projects and organizations the Peachtree City Kiwanis Club supports are the D.A.R.E. programs in Peachtree City, scholarships for students at McIntosh and Starr's Mill each year, Fayette Field of Hope, the All Children's Playground, the Fayette Youth Protection Homes and countless others. "Every fifth grader in Peachtree City participates in the D.A.R.E. program," said Hill. "The money we raise goes towards supplies and videotapes for the program as well as a t-shirt for each student at graduation." An event of this size requires the assistance of many people and organizations. Over 100 Kiwanis and Key Club, which is the high school chapter of the Kiwanis Club, volunteer their time to work the event. Though the doors open to the public at 7 a.m., volunteers start preparing for the breakfast at 5 a.m. and get first dibs on the pancakes at around 6:30 a.m. In addition to the people staffing the event, many local organizations help provide the ingredients that keep people coming back year after year. The Peachtree Wyndham Conference Center donates the Aunt Jemima Complete Buttermilk pancake batter and the sausage is provided by the Thomas Packing Company in Griffin, Publix donates the syrup and margarine, Partners II Pizza donates the cutlery, Kwik Kopy helps with the printing and eight banks from Fayette County help underwrite the event. Though lots of people attend the event each year, the staff has the breakfast down to a science so that people aren't waiting in long lines. In fact, they have tracked the crowd by the hour in order to better serve the community. Last year, 9 a.m.-10 a.m. was the breakfast's busiest hour and over 700 people went through the lines. Each person gets two pancakes as they go through the line and with over half of those people going back for seconds, the staff is making a lot of pancakes. "We've kept adding grills over the years," said Hill. "We own four of our own, including one that is six feet long and can cook approximately 70 pancakes at a time. We also are able to use one of the grills at McIntosh." There is more to the event than just a good breakfast. Each year the Southland Chorus Barbershop Quartet performs and children can get their face painted, receive balloons or participate in a pancake eating contest. "The contest is not how many pancakes you can eat," Hill explained. "Each child has the same amount and the winner eat the pancakes in the fastest time. Of course, each year we do something a little different like tie their arms behind their back or make them eat the pancakes with chopsticks." Also attending the event this year will be the Fayette County Safe Kids Coalition, which will be conducting child safety seat checks, and J93.3FM, which will be doing a live remote during the breakfast. members of the Kiwanis Club will be on J93.3 on Thursday morning cooking pancakes beginning at 6:30 a.m. The Peachtree City Kiwanis Breakfast will take place from 7 a.m.-1 p.m. at McIntosh High School on Saturday, Jan. 25. Admission is $4. For more information, phone Butch Hill 770-487-3500. |
