It isn’t often that anyone can say they’ve supported the community with one delicious fundraiser for 13 years.
But since July of 2004, on the fourth Saturday of the month, for 11 of the 12 months in a year, members of the First Presbyterian Church of Mount Gilead have been serving breakfasts to Morrow County folks, a news release states.
That’s 143 breakfast days that church members have given to the care and feeding of county residents. And if you figure that at least 60 people have come out to each breakfast, a lot of people have enjoyed the homemade food in the church’s fellowship hall.
The breakfasts were begun to help the church with expenses, but now the profits go to charitable organizations in the county. By June of this year the Fourth Saturday Breakfasts had given $33,500 to service organizations around Morrow County.
Some of the originators, like Cindy and Ed Fidler, Judy and Ed Nesbitt, Kyle Huvler and mike and Kim Porter are still helping with the effort. More recently Penny Reeve, Bonnie and Hildy Hildebrand, Kay Todd, Carmel Cooper and Lisa Hull have joined the team.
“We enjoy working together meeting not only people of the community but meeting various people involved with the charities that receive our help as an outreach of the church,” said Bonnie Hildebrand.
Cooks, waiters and clean-up crew members arrive before 6 a.m. to set up for each breakfast which begins at 7 a.m. When asked about what has motivated their service to Mount Gilead Cindy Fidler said, “We are so thankful for all that God has given us. How can we not give something to others who are in need?”
While the menu is pre-set each month, diners enjoy a wide range of foods over the course of the year. Pancakes, eggs and bacon, breakfast casseroles and sausage gravy with biscuits rotate through the calendar.
But everyone’s favorite breakfast seems to be the made to order omelets which are offered every other month.
Mike Porter, whose family owned Porter’s Restaurant for many years, is regularly the grill man for the breakfasts. “It’s great to be able to cook for large crowds of people from time to time, especially if the profits from the work go to a good cause,” he said.
Many organizations have benefitted from the breakfasts over the years. They include: Adopt A Family, the Community Action Commission’s Toiletries Closet, Crippled Children’s and Adults, the Edison Baptist Food Pantry, the Fresh Faith Food Pantry, Habitat for Humanity, Helpline, Hospice, the Inter Church Council, the Morrow County Community Center, Morrow County Family Health Center, No Limits Food Pantry, the Salvation Army, Special Olympics, Snuggled in Hope, Turning Point and the United Way of Morrow County.
First Presbyterian Church is located at 55 N. Cherry St. in Mount Gilead. There is plenty of parking available in the lot behind the church.
The next breakfast is set for 7-10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 26. Everyone is welcome at the church’s tables.
