Kiwanis Club of Tellico Village will host its traditional pancake breakfast fundraiser Saturday for the first time in three years.
Normally a semi-annual occurrence, the group last held the event in fall 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Scheduled for late April 2020, the breakfast had to be postponed indefinitely as the virus spread and lockdowns were enforced. Two-and-a-half years later, with restrictions loosened and gatherings operating as before, club leadership decided it was time to give the initiative another go.
Katey Bailey, pancake breakfast co-chair, said the club was eager to bring back one of their most popular events.
“COVID hit everybody hard,” Bailey said. “Obviously, every charitable organization needs money to keep going, and not being able to do the pancake breakfast for almost three years really hurt.”
The breakfast is an all-you-can-eat meal served 7:30-11 a.m. at the Community Church at Tellico Village. Pancakes are featured along with sausage, eggs, fruit and beverages. Attendees often line up before the event begins and come as much for the social aspect as for the food.
Bailey said their best turnouts have seen more than 900 people attend, and she hopes the three-year absence won’t have impacted interest.
With so many people to feed, her group has been busy assessing needs and restocking supplies ahead of the big day.
“It’s a lot of work,” Bailey said. “And, of course, it’s not just me. We have my co-chair, Ginger Swintosky, and a group of wonderful people who are a part of Kiwanis. Since it has been two-and-a-half years, we have to go into our storage unit and assess what do we have. We really can’t use anything that we had before, so we’re having to re-up sugars and that kind of stuff because we didn’t want to use something that’s been sitting for a while. So it’s kind of starting from scratch on some things.”
Bailey said ticket sales have been slower than usual but have picked up as the event nears. Tickets can be purchased for $12 ahead of time from any Kiwanis member or at Sloan’s, United Community Bank or the Village Salon, and will also be available for $14 at the door.
All funds raised go toward Kiwanis projects, which focus primarily on helping children in Loudon County. The club notably organizes a food for kids program to feed food-insecure students on the weekends, donates specially designed AmTryke tricycles for limited-mobility children, gives out back-to-school clothing gift cards and supports Loudon County Special Olympics.
The Loudon High School Key Club, a youth affiliate of Kiwanis, as well as plenty of club volunteers will be on hand to make and serve food. Bailey said everyone is extremely grateful for the help, and she hopes the public will come out to support the return of the long-standing tradition.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” she said. “We hope people will come because it’s going to be a great time. … It’s a good breakfast served by good people, and we hope a lot of people will come out.”
