First a beg
Saturday March 6th is Boy Scout Troop 379’s 46th Annual Pancake Supper.
This is the troop’s primary fundraiser for the year and it is a doozy folks.
All you can eat pancakes, bacon, sausage for $5. That’s right, just 5 bucks per person.
Starts at 5:30 p.m and goes until 8:00 p.m.
The Pancake Supper will be held at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Arlington. It’s located at 2625 South Cooper St. (Turn east off of Cooper on St. Jude) It is located just north of I-20 across the street from Pep Boys.
Please consider stopping by and having dinner with these fine young Scouts and the parents and Scouters that support them.
Half of the money from the tickets sold goes to pay for the Scouts summer activities. From Summer camp to backpacking in New Mexico, this is their chance to pay for it all. And they do have some Scouts that pay for their entire summer activities by selling tickets.
Behind the scenes prior to the Big Day.
Let me tell you a little about the behind the scenes work that makes this possible — I remember only all too well
It starts off months before, slowly but steadily lining up donations of supplies. Plates, flatware, paper towels, flour, syrup, butter, eggs; anything that doesn’t have to be bought makes a difference.
Scouters (the adult leaders) and Parents start twisting arms early and often. Of course so folks strongly support the program and have for years. The Knights of Columbus hall is provided free of charge as part of their outreach program (of course they love the troop because of how clean the hall is after the event).
About January, tickets are passed out to the Scouts and work begins on communication skills. Oh yes, no opportunity is wasted to teach skills to the youths and this is a valuable learning experience. The Scouts sell on their own for a while and in tandem on occassion.
2 to 4 weeks before the Pancake Supper, the Troop starts selling as a unit. While Texas winters are relatively mild, it can be a chilling experience sitting out in front of a store for hours as the kids hit up shoppers.
Scouts earn incentive prizes for their efforts also. Some of the prizes are fun things — the latest and hottest games, or gift cards to fast food restaurants. Some of the prizes are items they need for Scouting — backpacks, water bottles or hydration packs, sleeping bags, knives, etc.
The Day before the big event.
Want to make any veteran Scouter laugh? Simply say “And it is only 1 hour a week”.
The Scout leaders, youth and adults, usually load up the supplies and equipment the night before. Troop 379 has been doing this for quite a while and has a great deal of equipment, for example 5 electric restaurant quality griddles for cooking. They weigh a frakkin ton each. Fun stuff to load up after working all day. Everything is loaded up and staged on the trailer for the next day.
The Big Day.
Starts off way too early in the morning. Arrival at the Knights of Columbus Hall is set for 7:00 a.m. — that’s right, it’s not a mis-print.
While this is a supper, the work starts long before.
While the Troop is setting up equipment and arranging the hall, adult volunteers cook breakfast for the troop. Doesn’t take long to get everything off the trailer (and it is a big trailer) and set up. Most of the boys are dismissed, told to be back at 4:30 p.m.
Then the fun begins – the griddles are fired up and the cooking begins. Depending on the number of tickets sold, weather, size of the trooop, etc; the Troop pre-cooks anywhere from 140 to 200 pounds of sausage and 140 to 200 pounds of bacon.
Again, that’s not a mis-print — 140# to 200# each. This takes most of the day.
Sometimes the adults are lucky and there are enough people to work shifts, sometimes — not so lucky and a few souls stay there the entire day cooking.
Did I say the fun begins? Well, maybe it really starts when the boys show back up and we feed them a quick meal. Scouts eat a lot. An incredible amount really.
Opening the doors.
Remember how I told you it starts at 5:30 p.m.? Well, we have people lining up at the doors 20 minutes before that. The older crowd does like to eat early and get home.
I enjoyed talking to these folks. One couple hadn’t missed a Pancake Supper — it amazed me to hear they had been to all of them. Other have been attending for decades. That type of support for the troop made the work gratifying.
The crowd keeps on arriving. It isn’t unusual to have folks lined up all the way around the walls and out the doors.
This event is huge. We’ve served between 400 and 700 people at times. It usually runs around 500 people or so — in 2.5 hours.
The adults run the griddles and the serving line. The Scouts — boys ranging in age from 10 to 18 (we work this with a Cub Scout pack that is associated with the Troop) serve as runners and wait staff for the guests. They clean the tables, get more food for the wonderful people who have came out to support the troop.
The crowd starts thinning out around 7:30 – most of the time. Clean up starts and the every so enjoyable task of trying to keep tired, cranky, rambunctious boys on task takes on new levels of fun.
Griddles are shut down, cleaned and allowed to cool. This takes a while….a long while. 3 of the 5 griddles have been used nearly all day; all the griddles have been in continuous use since 5:30.
Serving equipment, utensils, crock pots — everything used gets cleaned.
Tables are wiped down, floors swept and mopped and everything is loaded back on the trailer.
If the Troop is lucky and organized they can be out of the Hall by 10 or 10:30. Some times it is much later.
At the end of a very long day, you stop and ask if it was worth it.
Then you hear the totals of how much money was brought in….and you say yes.
Then you hear the stories, the reports of the awesome job the kids did in serving, you hear the compliments from folks as they talk about how the youth leaders kept things going and on track and you say yes.
If it is worth it for an adult to spend that time, energy and effort to support the troop; surely it is worth your time, energy and money to stop by and have dinner with the troop.
Thanks for letting me share.
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