Pancake breakfast flips donations into funding for programs for kids
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on December 3, 2017 3:05 AM
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Allison Pridgen flips pancakes in the kitchen of the Boys and Girls Club kitchen during the 39th annual Pancake Day fundraiser.
Before the parades began marching down streets throughout Wayne County Saturday, volunteers at the Boys and Girls Club of Goldsboro were hard at work.
The club hosted its 39th annual Pancake Breakfast Day Saturday, serving up hundreds of hot meals to the friends and families who woke up early to get their fill.
Beginning at 7 a.m., the event got off to a quick start, said Boys and Girls Club Director Mary Anne Dudley.
"It's been rocking and rolling," she said. "We started off with a to-go order of 75 plates, and we got that done on time, and since then it's just been steadily going."
The annual breakfast is a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club, and helps fund the club's day-to-day operations in Goldsboro, Fremont and Mount Olive. Dudley said the event has been successful in years past.
"We often say that a net of $10,000 is a great breakfast," she said. "Last year we actually made $12,000."
Within an hour of opening up, the club had served nearly people, Dudley said. Stopping frequently to greet friends as they passed by the kitchen, she said that the breakfast has become a focal point for people in the community.
"We have multiple families who have had kids grow up here, and now they're out in the community owning businesses and doing things," she said. "It's kind of a tradition for those families to come here and eat before you clean up your yard or go to the three parades we have in Wayne County today."
In the kitchen, members of the Boys and Girls Club board of directors worked with other volunteers to make and package the pancakes, while another group stood just outside the building grilling sausage patties.
Kyle and Beth Saylors sat in the large dining area behind the kitchen with their daughters Carolina and Ellie. Kyle Saylors said that he had been coming to the breakfast for years.
"I've been coming ever since I was a kid, my dad was on the board here," he said. "We come out every December, it's just a good cause to support."