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Thursday, February 01, 2007 |
Kiwanis celebrates 60 years of serving pancakes
by Jaime Baranyai - Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 5:07 PM CST
E-mail this story | Print this page
This Saturday the Kiwanis Noon Club members will be serving up their famous pancakes and sausage at the 60th Annual Pancake
Day feast.
Pancake Day will be from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, at the Rolla High School Cafeteria. The all-you-can-eat
event will feature the club’s famous hotcakes along with sausages, coffee, music and good times.
“For 60
years the Kiwanis Noon Club members have whipped up these famous pancakes and sausages that everyone looks forward to eating
on a cold February Day,” Deborah DeWitt, Kiwanis Noon Club president and music coordinator for Pancake Day, said. “It’s
going to be a day of fun with great food and good music.”
The music lineup this year includes several different groups. Starting at 9 a.m. will be the bluegrass sounds of Beverly’s
Hillbillies with founding members Beverly Spencer, Jimmy Allison and Allen Ousley, and their guest musicians. At 10 a.m. Harold
Rowden will join the group for a bluegrass jam hour. Then for the first time, at 11 a.m., the Ozark Spirit Cloggers will take
to the floor stage for a half-hour clogging dance show. The World’s Finest Rolla German Band will give the last musical
performance of the day at 12:30 p.m.
“I’m excited about having more entertainment this year at Pancake
Day with it being a very special one celebrating our 60th year,” DeWitt said. “I’m pleased that Don Miller
and his students are coming and the Ozark Spirit Cloggers will be a nice change from music to dance.”
The tradition
of Pancake Day started in the fall of 1947 at the College Inn dining room at the Edward Long Hotel, which is now the Phelps
County Bank. The fundraiser was moved to the Rolla High School Cafeteria in 1971 and has continued to grow throughout the
years. Pancake Day usually draws a crowd as large as 2,000 to 2,500 people and raises about $10,000 to $12,000 a year. Last
year the event raised about $12,000. This year the goal is to raise $15,000 or more.
“This is our biggest fundraiser of the year,” Myrna Rueff of the Kiwanis Club Pancake Day Committee, said.
“It’s always a big hit and it’s the social event of the winter. It’s a fun way to get out and socialize
with friends and neighbors you haven’t seen in a while -- everybody in town is usually there at some point. It’s
always a good time and the pancakes are delicious, of course.”
All profits from the Pancake Day are given back
to the community to help support several different youth service projects including summer baseball programs and church camps,
Boy and Girl Scouts, Boys State, Girls State, GRACE, Project Graduation, C.O.R.E. (Champions of Rolla Education), Book Buzz
and many others. Children are what the Kiwanis Club is all about with its motto being: “Serving the children of the
world, one community and one child at a time.”
“Pancake Day is about raising money for the community,”
Rueff said. “The money goes to support the youth programs in our area.”
DeWitt encourages everyone to come out and enjoy the pancakes at the 60th Annual Pancake Day this Saturday.
“We
would love it if the entire community would come out and celebrate with us, after all, Kiwanis is all about the community
and helping our children,” she said. “Please come join us for a great day and a good cause.”
Tickets
for the 60th Annual Pancake Day are $5 in advance or $6 at the door. Advanced group purchases of 10 tickets or more are $4.50
each. Children ages 6 and under can eat for free. Tickets can be purchased at Kroger, Country Mart, Town and Country Bank,
Phelps County Bank, Central Federal Savings and Loans, Union Planters Bank and U.S. Bank. Tickets can also be purchased from
any Kiwanis Noon Club or Kiwanis Breakfast Club member or by calling 368-4929 or 364-8447.
Mayor Jenks proclaims Nov. 14 “Kiwanis Day”
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Happy Birthday to this wonderful group,” Rolla Mayor Bill Jenks III said at the celebration. “You all have
done an insurmountable number of positive things for Rolla and made our community a better place to live. Therefore, I declare
Nov. 14, 2006, as Kiwanis Day.” Missouri State Rep. Bob May was also there to extend his congratulations to the
club.
“Our community is very fortunate to have these Kiwanians,” May said. “There are Kiwanis Clubs in more
than 90 countries worldwide and we are doing our part here in Rolla. I’m very impressed by everything this club has
done and the way the people have helped children. A tremendous amount of people in the community have benefited from your
efforts; thank you and congratulations.”
Lowell Crow, past president of the Rolla Kiwanis Noon Club, then read
a letter of congratulations from U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson.
“The Rolla Kiwanis Noon Club has indeed improved the
lives of children in this community,” Emerson wrote in the letter. “This monumental anniversary is a reflection
of past achievements and a chance to look forward to the future. Congratulations on achieving this significant milestone.”
Jim Lipsey from the Kiwanis Club of Jefferson City, which originally sponsored the Rolla Kiwanis Noon Club 60 years ago,
was also present at Tuesday’s anniversary celebration. In turn, the Rolla Kiwanis Noon Club recognized the club it sponsored
17 years ago, the Rolla Kiwanis Breakfast Club.
The first Kiwanis Club was organized in Detroit, Mich., on Jan. 21,
1915. A year later, a Kiwanis Club was chartered in Canada and Kiwanis International quickly grew into a leading service club
in these two founding nations. In 1962, worldwide expansion was approved and today Kiwanis Clubs are active in every part
of the world.
The name “Kiwanis” was taken from an expression in an American Indian language of the Detroit
area, “Nunc Kee-wanis,” which means, “we trade” or “we share talents.” Kiwanis is a global
organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time, and the motto of the club
is “Serving the children of the world.” In one year, Kiwanis clubs sponsored 147,000 service projects. To do so,
Kiwanians raised and spent nearly $100 million and contributed 6.2 million hours of volunteer time.
Kiwanis came to Rolla on Nov. 14, 1946, within a district composed of Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri. In 1947, Kiwanis sponsored
a football team, which was the beginning of “Bulldog” football at the Rolla High School. In 1979, the Kiwanis
Club was also instrumental in developing and funding the Rolla Community Track. The Kiwanis Club has also supplied two vans
for use by the Department of Public Health to assist in the immunization of children in rural areas. In addition, the club
recently completed a major commitment of $25,000 to the Recreation for Everyone Foundation to pay for scholarships to The
Centre for needy children.
The Rolla Kiwanis Club’s first Pancake Day, which is one of the clubs’ major
fundraising projects, was held in the fall of 1947 at the College Inn dining room at the Edward Long Hotel, which is now Phelps
County Bank. Pancake Day was moved to the Rolla High School Cafeteria in 1971 and has been held there ever since. The 59th
annual Pancake Day was held on Feb. 4, 2006, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Other current fundraising activities include the
Ozark Christmas program and placing and retrieval of the flags on all major national holidays. Other recent fundraising activities
include the sponsorship of teddy bears for traumatized children and a quilt raffle.
The money received from these fundraising activities has helped the Rolla Kiwanis Club support many different service projects
and community needs. A current project is a $12,500 commitment to the Rolla Public Schools for the development of the soccer
field at the Bray Sports Complex. Other projects supported include summer baseball programs, summer church camps, Boy and
Girl Scouts, Boys State, Girls State, G.R.A.C.E., Project Graduation, Linking Hearts Adoption Program, academic scholarships,
CORE (Champions of Rolla Education), the MOCA Book Fair and the Book Buzz Reading Program. Members also volunteer to ring
the bell at Christmas for the Salvation Army.
A special activity of Kiwanis is the extension of Kiwanis ideas involving
service and fellowship to the youth. The Rolla Kiwanis Noon Club sponsors Key Club activities at the high school and the Circle
K Club at the University of Missouri-Rolla. The members of these clubs participate in many Kiwanis projects and have their
own special events including a Holiday Food Drive and a reading program at Head Start.
“The Rolla Kiwanis Noon
Club has made a big difference in this community,” Bethany Gordon, a UMR student in the Circle K Club, told the crowd
at Tuesday’s luncheon. “You guys have accomplished great things and you have the energy to keep doing more. I
enjoy being involved in the Circle K Club and I’m proud to be here.”
With the assistance of the Kiwanis Club, the Kiwanis Preventive Dental Clinic was formed at RTC in June 2000 for youth
who could not afford dental treatment. Four dentists, including Kiwanis Club members Dr. Moorkamp and Dr. Wilsdorf, contribute
their services. In addition, the Kiwanis Club furnished two complete dental chairs. To date, more than 300 patients have been
treated.
The Kiwanis Club participates in the District and International Foundation projects related to youth such
as the International program to reduce iodine deficiency (IDD), which includes goiters, cretinism, mental and physical deficiencies
and miscarriages in 1.6 billion at-risk persons. The International also supports UNICEF in its activities.
Toward the
end of the 60th anniversary celebration, Crow recognized past presidents of the Rolla Kiwanis Noon club and presented Legion
of Honor Awards to members with 25, 30, 35, 50 and 60 years of service. Paul Null is the only member to have served all 60
years. The celebration ended with the cutting (and eating) of the cake.
For Immediate Release
May 24, 2004
Press Release
Emerson to Address Rolla Kiwanis Club Tues.
WASHINGTON - U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) tomorrow will address the Rolla Kiwanis Club at Zeno&,1621
Martin Springs Drive. The meeting is planned to begin at noon, CDT.
I always enjoy speaking with the Kiwanis because they are focused on public service and the good of our community, Emerson
said. There are a lot of opportunities to get involved at the local level and receive feedback, which is a major part of my
job representing our district. I also look forward to updating the Kiwanis on what has been happening in Washington on Medicare,
rural development, and energy issues.
Emerson will address rural health care issues and discuss economic development ideas, as well as offer a Washington update.
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