The year is 2024
The month is February
The time is 6:45 a.m. on a Saturday.
The Event is our annual Pancake Breakfast.
Our event has had a bit of a change this year.
Our beloved John has moved to Southern Ontario and we have recruited a new person to manage the kitchen.
So, we say farewell to John...
.... and we say hello to Phil.
Phil and I went on a shopping spree a couple of days before the fundraising event. Normally John would have done this, so it was fun to shop and see what ingredients John got. I even had to text him a few times just to make sure we knew why we were getting what we were getting. : )
Before we get into the event itself, I wanted to do a bit of a look backward like we did with the care packages in a previous entry.
As far as I can recall, we started doing these fundraisers back in 2009. So we have held this fundraiser 13 times in 16 years.
I've placed the years and the amount of profit earned, as well as if you click on the year you will be brought to the blog post so you can read about how things have progressed over the years.
2009 - $1,300 Peru trip
2010 - $1,800 for Peru trip
2011 - $1,800 for Youth Group
2012 - $2,000 for Peru trip
2013 - $1,600 for Youth Group
2014 - Part 1 for Peru trip
2014 - Part 2 - $2,000 for Peru trip
2015 - $2600 for Youth Group and Gamaliel Christian School
2016 - $2350 for Peru Trip
Took a break in 2017
2018 - $2,000 for Peru trip
2019 - $2,300 for Youth Group events and Ottawa Inner City Ministries
2020 - $2139 - All Ontario Convention
2021 - No event due to COVID
2022 - No event due to COVID
2023 - $4118 for Mission trip to North Carolina and Refugees coming to Canada
2024 - $3062 for Mission trip to Kentucky and "Carleton Exam Pause Table"
The total profit made due to Calvin's generosity over the last 13 times, with a couple of breaks, has been
$29,069.
WOW!
Back to the event.
For those of you reading who may not know what a Pannekoek is (Pannekoeken for more than one) here's the definition:
Pannekoeken = A form of Dutch pancake, being thin and wide and optionally made with apples or a variety of other ingredients.
This year we raised funds for 11 of us going on a Spring Break Mission Trip (a.k.a Learning Opportunity)with Calvary CRC and Williamsburg CRC to David, Kentucky, as well as to provide food items for the upcoming Carlteon "Exam Pause Table" to happen in April at Carleton University (See
THIS LINK for that blog entry back in Dec of 2023.
Those going on the Learning Opportunity from Calvin are:
Pastor Craig
Janene
Ryne
Elijah
Sam
Jason
Holden
Marika
Kim
Lewis
Pastor Ron
Emma also wanted to help out.
We start the night before by cutting and prepping all the fruit.
It's always a fun time.
This group worked hard.
Oh, It looks like Janene found a great way of taking care of the oranges : )
Voila
Ryne tried not to chuckle too much : )
Yes, Sam, I'm going to take a picture of you....
....working : )
Lewis and Jason set up the fellowship hall.
Lots of dishes and utensils to put out.
I see Kim is in good form : )
Phil giving guidance and pointers....or was that Kim doing that : )
The work continues
The colour is so nice as the fruits get cut up.
Our ingredient list.
No secret recipe as far as I know : )
The finished product.
Lots of great colour.
After finishing the fellowship hall Jason and Lewis put together the donation envelops, with Sam supervising, as it should be : )
We were done in just over an hour.
Not bad.
So far so good : )
Before we knew it it was 6:45 a.m. Saturday morning.
Craig and Janene arrive with necessary beverage in hand.
Craig is still asleep as you can tell from the picture : )
We wasted no time in starting to prepare the ingredients.
Well, we may have started a bit slower than I would have liked : )
Phil needed to explain things.
Hey Ryne!!!!!
There you are : )
He's getting the whipped cream ready to go.
We are using a special ingredient that Phil knew about to keep the whipped cream light and fluffy.
And it worked!! Whoot!!
Lots of compliments on its taste and texture this year.
Phil trying to rally the troops : )
And the batter prep begins.
We needed Pannekoeken batter and blueberry batter.
I asked Miranda and Jonah to help us out as well.
They got the OJ ready to go. It was VERY frozen : )
Some are working, some are waiting :)
The end result for the tables.
We are ready to begin !!!
Usually Nathan and Margaret and family are our first guests and I get a picture of them, but this year it was John and Ellen. Nice to see you out for the 8 a.m. shift : )
The kitchen getting the pans to the right temperature. We usually have to sacrifice a few pancakes and pannekoeken, but they are never wasted : ). Eventually, Marika got things under control and was a pancake-making phenom.
Holden getting the hang of it.
And Kim stepping in to increase production.
And our guests have arrived and are enjoying the food.
Hey, is there a theme of sticking out your tongue at the camera person today? Thanks Andy : )
Emma helped out and did a great job. Oh, and we have an addition. Welcome Annika.
The first shift had about 36 people.
The second we were going to serve 73 people.
Whoot!!!!
David and Rachel made it out with the twins.
Hey Marika.
Keep up the great work.
I see you are managing two skillets now. Whoot!!!
Lewis doing the blueberry pancakes when there was a lull in needing to make the pannekoeken
A here is Sam!!!
Our resident dishwasher.
He did an awesome job.
And he actually likes doing this too.
Bonus!! : )
Janene is hard at work making batter.
Soooooo, how much sugar goes into the recipe???? : )
And Craig also prepping batter.
We store them in hot pans until served.
Martin with his party of 15 : )
Sarah and Katrina with Gabby.
Hey Pat and grandchildren : )
The second shift got the room buzzing
And us working extra fast.
More table shots.
Ineke before she knew I was taking her picture...
...and after :)
Megan helping out again.
Taking attendance and letting people know how to donate.
A VERY important task : )
After we served, we ate.
It was delicious.
Thanks Phil for all your work managing the kitchen.
You did well and we hope you will help us again next year :)
And to John I say, THANK YOU for all your help over the years. Lots of early mornings and shopping etc. It did not go unnoticed.
Maybe someone out in Southern Ontario will read this and get the idea of asking you to do a breakfast out there : ) Whootttt : )
Got enouph pannekoeken there Ryne?
Some of the crew chillin.
I think there were still others working though.
Hmmmmmmmmm
All cleaned up.
Like we were never there :)
Except for the strong smell of pancakes in the air.
Oh, and Evert got a couple of shots of me.
Yes, I did work.
But I did take lots of pictures : )
And even had some fun.
So in the end, due to those generous donors who participated in the day, and even some who said they couldn't attend but wanted to donate anyway, we were able to raise $3062 in profit.
A majority will go to help this group of 11 meet their goals for going on the mission trip, and also to the Carleton "Exam Pause Table".
Thanks again to all who helped cook, who came out and enjoyed a great morning, and to all who donated.
Until Next year D.V.
