A Successful Breakfast

Saturday started at 4:10 am. I woke up early; wondering if I had forgotten anything. I ticked through the list. Content knowing that I wasn't going to fall back to sleep, I made my way downstairs to clean up the TiVo. I burned through The Office and Survivor before it was time to start getting ready for the day.


I had stayed up until 11 or so the prior evening working the signs to direct traffic to the Dad's Club Pancake Breakfast. I wasn't tired, though. I was ready for a great day; and nervous about doing a good job for the PTO and for the school itself.

I arrived at 7:20. This after a stop to CVS Pharmacy to pick up peel-off name tags I had forgotten (you can't remember everything!). Ben, the custodian, greeted me as I walked in the door. He was tremendously helpful throughout the morning orchestrating the setup or tables, AV equipment etc. My early arrival gave me a few minutes to gather my thoughts before the volunteers began to show. As they arrived, I handed out tasks to complete: put out placemats, start the coffee, set up the juice station, set up the welcome desk, and so on.

The volunteers were terrific. The came to the party with a happy attitude and a willingness to do whatever whas necessary. Nancy, the food service manager, was invaluable. She prepared all of the sausage and 'tri-taters' (triangular hashbrowns) and had the kitchen prepared for us when we arrived.

At 8:30, we started making pancakes ... dozens of them; just in time for the doors to open to a horde of hungry parents and kids. The cub scouts were there to sell their items (among other things ... their offerings have certainly expanded since my days of peddling Trailways Popcorn) and Miss Indiana USA took her seat to sign autographs for the children (and have her picture taken with the adults).

All in, we raised just under $1,000 for the school. We will put it to good use in the near future.

Thanks so much to Kris, Joyce, Cindy, Nancy, Ben, Darrel, Jeni, Brian, Mike, Josh, Courtni, and all of the folks who donated items to make this such a wonderful event.