by Sylene Argent
For nearly 50 years, members of the Harrow Rotary Club have hosted an annual fundraising pancake breakfast on Palm Sunday.
On Sunday, around 250 members of the Harrow community stopped by the King Street Knights of Columbus Hall to enjoy this year’s annual event. Many years ago, the event was held in the former Harrow Town Hall basement.
Peggy Golden, President of the Harrow Rotary Club, was pleased to have the community support at the annual fundraiser, which allows the local service club an opportunity to raise funds to support local and global clauses.
Locally, the 19-member Harrow Rotary Club provides support to youth activities, such as providing high school students with scholarships and forwarding support to minor sports. The Harrow service club was also one of the many area Rotary clubs that contributed significant funds to the Erie Shores Hospice in sponsorship of a room. On the international stage, Rotarians work to end Polio though providing vaccinations in at-risk areas.
The pancake breakfast, Golden noted, still attracts a decent amount of community support. In the past, the breakfast did attract a larger number of patrons, who would stop by after attending a church service on Palm Sunday. Despite similar events taking place, the long-standing tradition is still successful after all those years.
The continued support of the event is due to the community members knowing the money raised goes right back into supporting important local and global causes through the good work the club does, she noted.
The pancake breakfast is also a great opportunity for residents of the community to see their Rotary Club in action, and connect with members to ask about programs or about what is entailed with becoming a member. It was estimated the Harrow Rotary Club was established around 80-years ago.
Members of Rotary, Golden said, get a chance to volunteer to work on local and global initiatives and get a chance to network amongst fellow members.
Looking ahead, the Harrow Rotary Club is planning on installing a pergola to provide shade to the users of the Harrow Soccer Fields. This piece of infrastructure is planned to be similar to the one it installed at Harrowood Senior Living Community in the recent past.
The funds spent on such initiative have to be raised, which is why the Harrow Rotary Club organizes fundraising events, such as the pancake breakfast.