You can do worse around here than eat pancakes.

Last Saturday many of you came out to support the Batesville Exchange Club’s semi-annual pancake breakfast. Proceeds from that event help fund the ongoing efforts for local child abuse prevention that is consistent with their national organization’s emphasis.

This Saturday, the Batesville Shrine Club is hosting a pancake breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m. at the building they recently acquired at 13170 Highway 6 West at the intersection with Farrish Gravel Road, the building we once knew as “Red Major’s Store,” and later as “Red Major’s old store.”
That the building was for so long, and with some is still best known by identification with its original owner is indicative of what a force of personality Red Major was in this community, but back to pancakes.

The Shriners’ menu includes pancakes, sausage and scrambled eggs and milk, orange juice or coffee. Prices are $6 for adults, $4 for children.

Shriners are well known for the Shriners International’s Hospitals for Children, a network of 22 non-profit hospitals across the U. S. that are renowned for burn treatment and also for the treatment of a range of heart-rending orthopedic and neurological conditions and injuries in patients under age 18. All treatment is rendered without regard for the patient’s ability to pay.
This Saturday’s pancake breakfast, Batesville Shrine Club President Mark Shields said, will raise funds specifically for transportation. The money raised will be used to help get children and their families to these hospitals for treatment. Another day’s pancake breakfast might raise funds for a different Shriner goal, Shields continued, but all the proceeds must be used for the designated purpose.

It needs to be told here that the Shrine Club had originally scheduled its pancake breakfast for last Saturday as well. The Shriners graciously deferred when they learned of the Exchange Club’s plans.

On the surface, that was just a minor decision, and in truth, they might have both been held simultaneously without one seriously impacting the other. But it was a decision about more than pancakes and proceeds. It was about community.

The pancakes will be delicious this Saturday. Don’t miss them.