Shrove Tuesday pancakes

Sherry, Bill and Dru in the kitchen before the cooking began. They were joined by Frank and Suzy.

We raised $500 flipping Shrove Tuesday pancakes and serving up sausage last night --- then gave it all away. While $500 isn't much in the grand scheme of things, considering all the needs these days, it was a heck of a good lead-in to Lent. Being able to just give is a wonderful thing. Plus, the tiny St. Andrew's crew limped out of the church and into the rain and mud about 8 feeling pretty good about itself.

I'm not sure how the yoga group meeting early this morning at the church will feel about all the pancake crumbs and mud still on the Parish Hall carpet, but no one felt like vacuuming after the dishes had been washed, the chairs put away and all else was said and done.

My guess is we fed about 150, but no one bothered to count. We were really pleased with the turnout considering the weather and our haphazard publicity efforts. The crowd was steady and lots of folks stuck around a long time just to visit with each other --- something you like to see. The mishaps were minor --- I inadvertently grilled a plastic glove and Bill managed to burn a hole in the bowl he was using to mix batter. We only blew circuit-breakers twice.

Fred coordinated the efforts of our Girl Scout servers. About twice this number of scouts were at work when serving actually began.

We couldn't have done it without our Girl Scout troop, which meets in the parish hall Tuesday nights anyway. They were incredibly efficient and fun to work with. Their Girl Scout Cookie sales table in the narthex cleaned up, too.

The beneficiary is the food pantry operated by the Lucas County Interchurch Council at the Ministries Center, so those eating Tuesday night soon will be feeding others. Not a bad deal in the grand scheme of things.