Andy Rebuck’s wife, children and grandchildren devourered pancakes with Rotary smiles.
Pancakes, get your pancakes! For 24 years, the Rotary Club of Harrisburg (RCH) has flipped pancakes before the annual Homecoming parade and football game at the Harrisburg High School. Those pancakes feed nearly 1,000 hungry fans and most often raised approximately $30,000 supporting student initiatives.
The RCH Pancake Breakfast has not only raised thousands of scholarship dollars, but it has been a time of member camaraderie and Service Above Self benefiting students at the Harrisburg School District. Unfortunately, for a second year of Covid-related concerns the School was simply unable to safely open its doors for our volunteers and guests.
Undaunted, the RCH Pancake Breakfast Committee reimagined a means to transform pancakes into much needed scholarship funding for deserving HSD students, assistance for homeless students and the purchase of young persons’ dictionaries.
Under the theme of “Pancakes For A Purpose (PFAP)”, chairs Marion C. Alexander, Past President Karen Paris and “pancake flippin’” committee members have fashioned a way to raise money, engage RCH members and fill empty bellies with fantastically flipped pancakes.
Under the theme of “Pancakes For A Purpose (PFAP)”, chairs Marion C. Alexander, Past President Karen Paris and “pancake flippin’” committee members have fashioned a way to raise money, engage RCH members and fill empty bellies with fantastically flipped pancakes.
The chairs were excited when members Steve Schwartz and Sue Ward-Diorio put forth a two-pronged idea.
First, the PFAP committee members delivered all the necessary fixings for a pancake breakfast to five different area organizations. The organizations in turn griddled and serve more than five hundred hungry folks.
RCH members packed pancake preparation pieces production style.
Second, each of the RCH members were asked to pledge $100 to the Harrisburg Rotary Foundation. The members received the pancake ingredients so they could flip cakes for family and friends. With plans for this to happen in the week of November 8, the committee asked the members to take lots of photos of everyone sharing in the great delights of a pancake breakfast. RCH added these photos to their wide-reaching website and social media. Participating members were entered into a raffle for fame, fortune and fun.
An attainable goal of $15,000 was set with a suggested stretch goal of $23,000. This would fund the $15,000 for student initiatives as well as supporting $8,000 for student college scholarships.
Area businesses and agencies also stepped up with title sponsors of UPMC and UPMC Health Plan and included generous support from Peggy Grove Enterprises, Highmark, M&T Bank, Harrisburg University, Hersha Hotels, Foundation for Enhancing Communities, Iron Valley Real Estate, Central PA Food Bank, Hospice of Central PA, MT Weatherization, Harrisburg Pharmacy, PA Media Group – Patriot New, Best Western Hershey, Harrisburg Public School Foundation, Parthemore Funeral Home, Mid Penn Bank and Edwin L. Heim Company. Lamar Outdoor will be providing billboards featuring Rotary throughout the area.
Member and sponsor support raised $22,500. Just as importantly, the creative thinking and implementation will feed pancakes to some hungry folks in the Harrisburg area and care for Harrisburg school children and college support for others.