Thousands turn out for Sertoma pancake day

LIMA — For the other 364 days of the year, the Lima Noon Sertoma Club helps local residents with speech and hearing problems when they can’t afford it.

For that one other day on Saturday, area residents turned out in droves to return the favor.

By 1 p.m. Saturday, more than 4,000 people had already turned out for the annual Pancake Day sponsored by the organization at Lima Senior High School. More than 150 volunteers helped out at the event, which lasted from 6 am. to 3 p.m. Along with all-you-can-eat blueberry or regular pancakes, visitors were also treated to sausage, coffee, orange juice and milk.

“We have already served 19,000 pancakes today,” said event chairman Jason Stolly. “We have served 1,500 pounds of sausage.”

While exact numbers will not be known until later, Stolly said he believed it was the largest crowd he had ever seen at the event. Besides club members, other organizations helping volunteer included Lima Young Professionals, the Shawnee High School band, Lima Downtown Inc. and the Lima Express. Sponsoring organizations included Bob Evans, Bigby Coffee, McDonald’s Restaurants and Prairie Farms.

Stolly said it was nice to see so much support for the event.

“We spend nine months preparing for this event each year,” Stolly said. “We have been completely full from start to finish. We had lines of people and cars were 15 to 20 deep in the drive-through for most of the day.”

Pancake Day is the biggest fundraiser for the organization each year, often generating more than $40,000. The organization helps with costs for speech and hearing related problems in the area, including speech therapy or purchasing hearing aids for people who can’t afford them.

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Amanda Wilson | The Lima News April Spence and her husband, Zach, enjoy feeding their daughter, Emma, during the Lima Noon Sertoma Annual Pancake Day at Lima Senior High School on Saturday afternoon.
http://www.limaohio.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2015/11/web1_PancakeDayAmanda-November-14-20151.jpgAmanda Wilson | The Lima News April Spence and her husband, Zach, enjoy feeding their daughter, Emma, during the Lima Noon Sertoma Annual Pancake Day at Lima Senior High School on Saturday afternoon.

By Lance Mihm

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