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This Saturday hungry residents have the option of getting breakfast made for them – and the dishes will be taken care of too. The Kiwanis Club of Mount Airy is hosting an all-you-can-eat breakfast with pancakes, eggs, Wagner Brothers sausage and beverages.
The pancake breakfast fundraiser is from 6 a.m.-noon in the top level of Calvary United Methodist Church, 403 S. Main St. The cost is $6 for adults, and $3 for children ages 6 to 12. Children ages 5 and under are free. The event serves as a fundraiser for the organization.
"It is a service project that involves all generations," said Angie Moore, event organizer and Kiwanis Club member.
The South Carroll Key Club assists the club in washing dishes and attending to the dining room for the event.
Moore remembers helping out in her years before becoming a member in 1992. "I washed dishes in the early days when I was a kid," said Moore, whose father was a long-time member of the club.
The Kiwanis Club in Mount Airy started in 1949. Since then, events like the pancake breakfast have benefitted multiple local community projects. The club, a community service group, provides financial assistance and manpower to local organizations and events such as Mount Airy Net, the Mount Airy Branch Library, local boy and girl scout troops, Diamond Jubilee (a free dinner for seniors age 75 and older), the South Carroll High Key Club, the Mount Airy Middle School mentor program, Prospect Park benches and Main Street Christmas. The group also produces the Mount Airy Telephone Directory in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce.
The club has more than 30 members and welcomes anyone interested to join. Contact Moore at 301-829-9790 with questions about the breakfast or the club.
Holiday hay rides
to benefit Alex Hancock
"Pulling for Alex," the slogan for supporters of Windsor Knolls Middle School student Alex Hancock, is about to take on a whole new meaning.
On Dec. 6 residents of the Kemptown area will be treated to hay rides on wagons decked out in Christmas lights, according to event organizer Jerry Murphy, who is also the vice president of the Maryland Chapter of the International Harvester Collector Club.
Murphy said that when he heard the slogan "Pulling for Alex," he thought a fundraiser hosted by the Harvester Collector Club was a perfect fit.
"That's how we got the idea," he said.
The Monrovia community is so dedicated to helping out Alex, that Murphy said he had nearly every hay wagon in the area ready to go for the event. He said how many wagons took hay rides that day would depend on how many people showed up, but there would surely be enough wagons to go around. "We've got them all on standby," he said.
Alex, 10, of Monrovia, was diagnosed with a cancerous medulloblastoma in March, and immediately needed surgery to remove it. Since then, Alex has completed chemotherapy and radiation treatments, but she requires long-term treatment to keep the cancer at bay.
Alex's family has required assistance to help cope with mounting medical costs, and the Monrovia and Kemptown communities have responded.
One fundraiser, the Kemptown Fall Festival 5K, took place on Saturday, and another fundraiser, Alex's Election Day Bake Sale, took place on Nov. 4. The New Market District Lions Club catered both of these events, providing funnel cakes and hot dogs for attendees. According to Debbie Hall, a member of the Kemptown Elementary PTA, the New Market Lions always participate in the Kemptown Fall Festival, donating 20 percent of their profits to the school and the rest to a charity of their choice. This year, the Lions chose the Patty Pollatos Fund, contributing on Alex's behalf. The Patty Pollatos Fund is a charity that supports local children suffering from serious illness or injury.
Murphy said it was important for members of the Kemptown community to pull together for the Hancock family and to support Alex during this difficult time.
"We all live in the same community," he said.
Murphy said that there will also be a pig roast with soup and baked goods sold in a heated pavilion.
Also, in keeping with the holiday theme, Santa Clause will make an appearance for the kids at about 1 p.m., Murphy said.
The hay rides and luncheon will be held on Browningsville Road, off of Md. Route 75 near Kemptown on Dec. 6, although the rain date is Dec. 7, according to Murphy.
Scouts clean up roadside
Three Boy Scouts from New Market Troop 268 took out the trash in Monrovia earlier this month.
Brian Battaglia, C.J. Battaglia and Jonathan Gober collected four bags of roadside liter on Nov. 9, spending that Saturday cleaning a section of Green Valley Road and Baldwin Road as part of Maryland's Adopt a Highway Program.
The troop is sponsored by the Bush Creek Church of the Brethren and meets there every Wednesday evening.
Do you have an item for Mount Airy Moments? Contact reporter Angie Cochrun at 301-829-5201, e-mail acochrun@gazette.net or fax news to 301-846-2124. Items are due by noon Fridays.
