Staff writer
A fourth-place finish at the state 4-H livestock judging contest in August was something to be proud of for several Marion County 4-H club members. However, with only the top three teams slated for national competition they thought that was the end of this year’s judging season.
A recent development changed that, and Nick Meyer, Lauren Geis, Bryce Roberts, and Karl Riffel found themselves frying and flipping pancakes Saturday morning to raise money to help pay their expenses to judge in the national 4-H livestock-judging contest in January in Fort Worth, Texas.
“We found out the third-place team couldn’t go, so now we can,” Riffel said. “We don’t know yet how much it will cost us, but we are just trying to raise anything we can to help with expenses.”
The four youths, representing Marion, Hillsboro, and Tampa 4-H clubs, cooked and served several hundred pancakes, along with sausages and breakfast drinks at the Durham Community Center in Durham as part of that community’s annual pancake feed.
“We are just so happy to help these youth along,” community organizer Lila Unruh said. “They have done such a good job and we are very proud of their efforts. There has just been a steady stream of customers in here all morning, so far.”
The Durham Community Pancake Feed has been an annual event in that community since 1957, formerly organized by the Durham Lions’ Club. For the past three years, the Durham Community Activity Association has organized the event with proceeds going toward community projects and improvements.
This was the first year a special interest group requested to help make and serve the pancakes for a split of the profits.
“We actually made just under $750,” Durham community committee member Joyce Medley said. “But we made sure to give the kids $375 for their project.”
The judging team members plan to attempt a few more fundraisers before traveling to the Fort Worth Stock Show in January.
“We are just very excited about the opportunity to go,” Riffel said. “It will be worth flipping all these pancakes.”