Flipping for funds

The pancakes rose up nice and fluffy Saturday morning at Maryville High School. Members of Maryville Kiwanis Club were flipping for funds -- and success was evident by the lines that snaked out the door and the full house in the cafeteria.

At events end, more than $18,000 was raised to benefit community projects of the Maryville Kiwanis, primarily the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and the youth Leadership Adventure Camp.

The club has taken the lead in Blount County with the Imagination Library, a statewide program that gives free books each month to all children, from birth through five years old. The camp, held each summer, is for selected rising 8th graders and
is a mainstay of the groups programming for young people.

President Mike Morrell was on hand to greet the community, who came in hungry and were not disappointed. Supporting the event was the International House of Pancakes, and some 35 event sponsors. Club counters estimated that nearly 1,000 folks attended the pancake breakfast on Saturday.

Helping keep the event moving along were members of the Maryville High School Key Club, who assisted in serving, and the Heritage Middle School Builders Club, who served as greeters.

Blount Today publisher Sherri Gardner Howell attended the event and took these photographs.