The Breakfast Food Fair, planned and hosted by M-A’s Service Leadership Class (SLC), took place in the G-Wing on Saturday morning. Staffed entirely by student volunteers, the event featured chocolate chip pancakes, lively conversation, and a strong sense of community.
Senior Lily Pellican, the head of SLC’s events planning committee, has been organizing the breakfast since August. While slightly disappointed with the low turnout, she was determined to make the most of it. “The turnout is a little low, but hopefully we can get some more people. We had an outreach plan, and then it fell through, but we have some more ideas on how to feed more families, so we’ll be all right,” Pellican said.
Senior Brealyn Trujillo, also a member of SLC, connected with various organizations, including Clover and Sigona’s Farmers Market, which donated to the event. “We’ve been really wanting to plan this event for a while and give back to a lot of underserved families in the area,” Trujillo said.
In the G-Wing kitchen, volunteers measured and mixed flour and milk, passing tins of pancake batter through the windows to the servers outside. Near the tables, freshman Wesley Saywell and others distributed food to those in attendance. Saywell volunteered for the Food Fair through the Service Learning Center, a club that meets every other Monday at lunch in P-5.
Amy Wender, who runs the Wender Weis Foundation for Children, assisted in organizing the event by reaching out to local children’s charities to encourage participation and secure donations. The event was promoted through Junior Giants, a junior baseball and softball league, with whom Wender’s organization has collaborated since 1996. “I’ve reached out to local children’s charities to encourage kids to help them collect donations at Clover and Sigona’s. I’m just kind of trying to help give some behind-the-scenes guidance and support for giving back in the community,” Wender said.
Several families benefited from the pancakes by learning about the event through the Junior Giants network. Later in the morning, members of the football team made a quick visit, eager to grab some of the freshly flipped pancakes.
