4TH ANNUAL PANCAKE BREAKFAST
PETER THACH
SUBMITTED BY:
ARNELLE MAGANDI
SECA
SERVICE ON YOUR WAY!
MCNAIR
July 4th, 2012, in festive spirit of Independence Day, The Kiwanis Club of Greater Lodi hosts the 40th annual pancake breakfast. Serving plenty of morning goods: hot-fresh pancakes, outstanding sausage, ice-cold milk, orange juice and plenty of freshly brewed coffee; All for the donation of $6 for adults, $4 for children ages 5-12, and free for children under the age of 5. The money from the event would go on to fund for scholarships, books and playground equipment for local schools, zoo exhibits, international projects, and sponsorship of Key Clubs. We witnessed the sights and sounds of the very day, but the efforts of many were placed in the day prior. Kiwani members and our very own Ronald E. McNair Key Club offered a hand in setting up tables and chairs. Tables were decorated in three SUBMITTED very special colors, our nation’s red, white and blue. And quite the duo they were with simple, white folding lawn chairs. BY: There was something unique to it all. The simplicity, the natural beauty of the lake and shade and grass. July 4th at it’s finest. A community coming together, helping together, and growing together; It was the Kiwanis vision of a greater Lodi in full detail. The real fun kicked off at 7 a.m. with families slowly coming in. Hot coffee flew to and from the front lines! In the middle, a unit armed with wet rags, held down the center, prepared to take down any syrupy table. A single person at the very front of our operation passed out plates, napkins and utensils. These were semi-trained professionals. The actions would repeat for the next given hours until all were satisfied. Although, we were small in numbers and stacked in the odds, our tiny unit of dedicated McNair Key Clubbers were able to successfully contribute to the day. All were satisfied.
I recently volunteered at Charterhouse Center for Families over my summer break. Charterhouse Center for Families is an organization that reaches out to families in need. Majority of the families that go there speak a language other than English, so Charterhouse offers services to meet their needs. I helped out the organization by organizing books into Raising a Reader(RAR) book bags. I first would sanitize all the books so that they were clean for the next reader. After every book was clean, I put the books into groups of 4 and counted how many groups there was in total. There was usually 20 groups of books to put into individual bags. Before I put the books in the RAR bags, I made tags that had the books the bag contained. After I put together the tags, I tied it on the bags and put in the books. When I was finished with that set, I moved on to the next set of books. That’s basically how I helped out at Charterhouse Center for Families.
CHARTERHOUSE CENTER FOR FAMILIES
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