The Etowah Lions Club shares with Etowah Elementary more than just an address on Etowah School Road; the organization enjoys a sense of community with the school’s students and staff.
That’s what spurred the Lions Club to dedicate its most recent pancake breakfast fundraiser to the school’s backpack program, which provides food to last the weekend to students who depend on school meals during the week.
Ken Wise, president of the Etowah Lions Club, said, “We pick something that we’re going to donate the money to. This time Susan came up with the backpack idea.”
Susan Fernandez, 1st Vice President of the Lions Club, said the club collected nonperishable food and school supplies, in addition to donating ticket sale proceeds from the pancake breakfast to the backpack program.
“Over 92 people came to the breakfast,” she said. “We pre-sold tickets this time and I think that helped.”
On Tuesday, Oct. 31, Fernandez and Wise presented $663.46 to Etowah principal Matthew Haney and Ariel Pope, Etowah parent and backpack program coordinator.
Pope said the funds from the pancake breakfast will definitely help Etowah families feed their children, and remarked that there have been as many as 46 students a week taking food home on Fridays for over the weekend.
She and Haney were equally impressed by the amount raised by the Lions Club, and thankful for their continued generosity to the school community.
Pope remarked that in the small town of Etowah, so many community members are somehow connected to the school, which is likely what drove the donations.
“Their kids are here,” Pope said. “It’s the heart (of this community).”
– By Molly McGowan Gorsuch
Public Information Officer
