Pancake Supper Fundraising by Ruth Paget
I learned about pancake supper fundraising as a child when I attended pancake suppers at my family’s Baptist church in Detroit (Hazel Park), Michigan.
The entire congregation came often with friends to eat pancakes and raise money for children’s programs. The cost was around $5 per person plus any voluntary extra donation in the 1960s and 1970s.
The following items came with the pancake supper:
-3 pancakes
-3 packages of maple syrup (This was easily obtainable in Michigan.)
-3 butter packages
-a fruit salad for dessert
-cold, sweetened iced tea
-lemon wedges, if requested
-a silverware and napkin packet
Our church had a cafeteria-style kitchen where we would get a tray and be served our pancakes, fruit salad, and silverware packet.
At lunch tables covered with paper tablecloths, servers would bring us our sweetened iced tea on trays to avoid spills. The fruit salad was low-calorie and pretty nutritious.
The fruit salad was made with the following items:
-canned, no-sugar-added mandarin orange sections with the can juice
-fresh apple cubes
-slices of fresh banana
The fruit contained Vitamin C, and the pancakes made with milk and eggs contained protein and calcium.
Sometimes the teen group would perform a skit from the Christmas play. Little children sang Sunday school songs.
Pancakes cost very little to make, if made from scratch. Pancake fundraisers are profitable and easy fundraisers if organized well. Check if you need catering insurance to do this for your organization.
I always enjoyed going to pancake suppers as a child in Detroit, Michigan and think these events might do well in the 2020s as well.
(Note: Pancakes have their origin in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, but the Dutch are credited with creating their modern version.)
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
