‘Pancake Town USA’ raises money

Benefits Geauga County’s first sober house for women

For 65 years, thousands of people have been meeting in Burton every Sunday in March for an immensely popular all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast during maple sugaring season.

In fact, the annual breakfasts have been such a hit that the Burton-Middlefield Rotary Club officially trademarked Burton as “Pancake Town USA.”

Jim Dvorak, president of the Rotary Club, said more than 20,000 guests attend the breakfasts

each year.

“This is the biggest fundraiser for our club,” Dvorak said March 11 while the event at Berkshire High School was in full swing. “We raise anywhere from thirty to thirty-five thousand dollars, and we put the money right back in the community for various things. We provide scholarships to Cardinal, Berkshire and Newbury students, and we do a third grade dictionary program. We help veterans with everything from building ramps for their homes to helping them out with their fuel bills in the winter months. We are also donating $5,000 a year for five years for a new cancer wing at UH Hospital.”

This year’s proceeds will go mainly to another worthy cause — the Red Tulip Project.

The purpose of the Red Tulip Project is to raise money to construct, maintain and operate Geauga County’s first sober house for women in recovery from drug and alcohol addictions.

Dvorak said he and the other seven board of directors on the Red Tulip Project of Geauga all have loved ones who suffer from the disease of addiction.

“My wife and I lost a daughter a little over a year ago,” he said.

The 2,500-square foot home will be located at 12345 Claridon Troy Road in Claridon Township and house four residents and a house mom.

The land and most of the materials for the project were donated, and construction on the project is estimated to begin in April or May.

The non-profit organization chose the name of the project after adopting the red tulip as a symbol for hope and healing.

Dvorak said he is grateful to those who keep supporting the Rotary’s efforts year after year, and in some cases, week after week.

“They say our pancakes are the best in Geauga County,” he added. “Our club members make them.”

Bob Johnson, spokesman for the pancake operation, said it takes about 75 volunteers from the Rotary and other clubs to run the event each week, including 20 people manning the main kitchen and 10 on omelette duty.

“I like to see all these families come out,” said Johnson, who has been involved in the pancake breakfasts for 32 years. “It’s like a big family reunion get-together. We get many groups of 12 to 18 people.”

Retired Geauga County Sheriff Dan McClelland has an unglamorous, but important, role in the breakfasts.

“I’m batter boy,” McClelland said with a laugh. “I run buckets of batter. I plate!”

Next year’s big recipient from the pancake proceeds will be the Geauga County Department on Aging for a project yet to be determined, said Dvorak.

The remaining March breakfasts will be held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 18 and 25 at Berkshire High School, 14519 N. Cheshire St. in Burton.

TRACEY READ — THE NEWS-HERALD Burton-Middlefield Rotary Club President Jim Dvorak poses with some family members March 11 at Berkshire High School in Burton during the second pancake breakfast of the month.

TRACEY READ — THE NEWS-HERALD Carl Hofstetter, a member of the Burton-Middlefield Rotary Club, was among about 75 volunteers at a March pancake breakfast held March 11 at Berkshire High School in Burton.