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The Pancake Breakfast
Innisfil Enterprise
July 4, 2007
By Peter Van Loan, MP, York-Simcoe
Every July 1, I host a Dominion Day Pancake
breakfast in Innisfil. This year, about
hundreds of people shared pancakes and back
bacon on a bun.
I get to be front and centre serving
everyone - but to make the event run
smoothly takes a team of over 30 volunteers,
who work for days in advance getting ready,
and at the event.
This team, led by Kathy Simpson of Churchill
(who heads up my special events volunteer
team) and Karen MacDonald (who works in my
office), set aside their own priorities to
make it all happen.
Months ahead, the hall is booked, volunteers
lined up, cookers booked notices and
advertisements prepared and circulated, and
news releases written and sent to the
papers. It's not an event unless people
actually know it is happening so they can
come!
In the days ahead, food is purchased,
equipment and supplies taken to the site,
and tasks assigned.
On the day itself, folks get up as early as
5am. They head to the hall, slice back
bacon, set up tables, put up decorations,
mix pancake mix, brew coffee, and more. When
the start time approaches, the cooking team
springs into action
Finally, I start to work, serving pancakes
to you, my constituents. By then, already
enormous amounts of volunteer effort has
been invested.
For you and me, it is simple. A nice
pleasant chat and a breakfast served
cheerfully and efficiently! It's a great way
to celebrate Canada's 140th birthday. The
effort that made it all possible is almost
invisible - a fitting metaphor for our
appreciation of Canada itself!
But like so many community events, it is the
volunteers who made the efforts that enrich
our lives! On July 1, we see that at my
pancake breakfast and myriad other events in
York-Simcoe.
Let's remember to thank those volunteers -
especially when they undertake that most
thankless of tasks - the clean-up after the
party (for which I am especially
appreciative, since I miss it, having to go
off to officiate at other Canada Day
events).
Canada Day is about our people - and I'm
proud of the people who come out to stand
behind me every July 1.
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