Volunteers of the Month: DeWitt Rotary Pancake Day team
by Mel Rubenstein
As we all know, the coronavirus has resulted in most all events being cancelled, and that includes the annual Dewitt Rotary Pancake Day.
This column recognizes the efforts of so many of its members who have already done so much work and why Pancake Day is so important to the community. Read it, stay safe and well, and on behalf of Dewitt Rotary, hope to see you at next year’s Pancake Day.
While members of the Dewitt Rotary Club volunteer throughout the year, there is one time that all 75 members work on the same project; the Annual Pancake Day. Additional help is received from members of other Rotary clubs in the area, and from the Boy Scouts. This year was going to be the 66th Annual Pancake Day that was originally scheduled to be held on May 16.
In just the past few years, Pancake Day has raised over $100,000 of which the Dewitt Rotary Club has provided the net proceeds to charitable causes like: Jim & Juli Boeheim Foundation, Monarch Industries, Samaritan Center, Rotary Polio Project, Salvation Army, OnPoint for College, J-D School Programs, Rotary Youth Exchange, Rotary Foundation, Scouts, scholarships, and more.
Pancake Day actually begins months before the event with a number of meetings on Saturday mornings which are well attended by Dewitt Rotary Club members. The meetings are conducted by Davis Yohe and Carolyn Hendrickson, co-chairs of the event.
One of the ways that money is raised for Pancake Day is by selling advertisements in the FlapJack Review. The FlapJack Review is a 62 page tabloid newspaper, full of advertisements, articles and pictures. Tom and Pat Richards are the co-chairs and ask Rotary members to sell advertising for the FlapJack Review, and seek interesting articles to be placed in the paper. This is a job that literally takes months to accomplish. Dewitt Rotarians personally hand out copies of the FlapJack Review to most of the 4,000 plus people at Pancake Day. One of those handing out the paper is Joe McCarthy, who has been a member for 52 years.
Then, two days before the event things get underway. On Thursday a large tent is erected and a truck delivers hundreds of tables and chairs which are stacked in the tent. On Friday dozens of Dewitt Rotarians spend the better part of the day setting up the tables and chairs, making sure there is enough spacing to accommodate everyone. Each chair is cleaned and tables are covered with plastic table clothes. While this is going on other Rotarians set up grills in the cooking area and scrape and rub them until they are crystal clean, and yet others are busy setting up a serving area for coffee and milk, and tables with paper plates, cups, and utensils. (Are you beginning to smell the pancakes yet?)
On Saturday morning pads of butter and syrup are placed on the tables and the cooking begins in a small tent. This is where the pancake batter is mixed and the sausage is cooked. That’s right, it isn’t just about pancakes, because the sausage has been very popular also.
At 7 a.m. on Saturday morning the flaps to the tent are open and the people begin to enter. After the check-in table, there is an area where one can purchase tickets for raffles for a number of interesting items, all donated by well-known local businesses. And then to the grills, where you can customize the pancakes by adding chocolate chips or M&M’s.
Members of Dewitt Rotary agree that all of this hard work is worth it when you see a family with their 3 year-old munching on pancakes and drinking chocolate milk. While Pancake Day is going on Rotarians and the Boy Scouts circulate thru the tent making sure the tables are clean from litter and everyone has what they need.
So, who comes to Pancake Day? It is not unusual to see Town of Dewitt and Onondaga County officials, well known sports figures, radio/TV personalities and veterans.
Each year Dewitt Rotary invites patients of the Syracuse VA Hospital to Pancake Day. Last year 10 wheelchair bound vets were brought on a special bus to Pancake Day where tables were waiting for them, decorated with American flags and a sign that reads, “Table reserved for veterans at the Syracuse Medical Center.”
This is the only time tables are reserved for any group or individual. It is very heartwarming when people attending Pancake Day see the vets, stop and say, “Thank you for your service to our country.”
Although Pancake Day officially ends at 1 p.m., that is not the end of the day for Rotarians who spend a few more hours stacking the chairs and tables and sweeping the entire floor in the tent.
The net proceeds from ticket and ad sales goes into the Dewitt Rotary philanthropy fund, headed by Mark Hansen, and responds to requests for funding from a number of organizations.
Other members on the Pancake Day planning committee include; Sue Reisman, Mark Strodel, Linda Cleary, Darnell Hayes, Kuki Haines, Tom Heister, Richard Gingold, Kathy Kotz, Mike Cadin, Steve Woiler, Gay Pomeroy, Holly Salop Wallace, Leo Eisner, Larry Schunck, Tom Carafa, Cheryl Matt, Mark Matt, Mike Miller and Iris Evans. (Forgive me if I left anyone out.
For the past 65 years, many local businesses have been generous in their support. Major supporters have been Dick’s Sporting Goods, Dunkin Donuts, Cazenovia Jewelers, Byrne Dairy, Syracuse Chiefs, Le Moyne College, TOPS Friendly Markets, and many more.
Keith Robisch, president of Dewitt Rotary, says that while the coronavirus is a very sad time, he is very grateful to the Eagle Bulletin for running this column that acknowledges the efforts of so many that have made Pancake Day so successful for so many years.
To recommend someone with a stellar record of volunteering to be featured in this column contact Mel Rubenstein: [email protected] or call 315-682-7162.
