Eighty pounds is a whole lot of pancake batter. Add in 120 pounds of sausage, 60 pounds of oranges, 55 pounds of strawberries nd 14 gallons of orange juice, and you have some very happy Oak Forest Rotarians.

The club served breakfast for 600 and netted 50 pints in blood donations at its 17th annual free pancake breakfast and blood drive Sunday, Feb. 13.

The morning featured performances from local groups like the Oak Forest High School jazz and choir ensembles, Fieldcrest chorus, Oak Forest Park District Momentum Dance Force, G. Kerkstra and Lee R. Foster fourth- and fifth-grade choir, Jack Hille Middle School jazz and woodwind ensembles, Pockets the Clown and Legacy Dance Ensemble.

Check out Patch's video coverage of the event above.

Organizer John Keane offered praise and gratitude for the following:

• Oak Forest Rotary Club President and Breakfast Co-Chair Dr. Tom Halwax, for all his years of experience, pre-planning, orchestrating food purchase, developing the work schedules for the Rotarians and other volunteers.  Dr. Tom’s super food shoppers included:  Jim Watson, Ron Drechsel, Dorothy Kennedy, John Keane, and Tom Hoogland.  Note:  All unused food was donated to Together We Cope at the end of the breakfast.

• Kitchen staff: Rotarians Ron Dreschel, Sue Wolf , Art Lubinski, Cindy Gannon, Karen Moran, Tom Duffy and his wife Oxana, and Len Schaafsma from Together We Cope. 
• Greeters: Rotarians Savka Mladenovich, Jim Pauly, Tom Chunis
  

Thanks for the Blood Drive:

• Rotarians Jim Watson Chairman, Dick Sanders, Ralph Polachek and Jenelle Mitzner and the Interact Students. 
• Special thanks to Mayor Hank Kuspa, Chrissy Maher, Kim Malecky-Iles, Chuck Toland, Paula Kubilius and Rhonda Ceska for getting the word out and last but not least, Rotarian Sue Wolf for her telephone efforts. 
• The Tin Man of King Heating and Air Condiditioning greeted everyone as they entered. Thanks to Bobby Cowgill and his daughter Kelly who delivered the Tin Man and helped set him up on Saturday before Sunday's event.

Thanks also to Oak Forest High Interact Club President Chris Reed and Interact students Mallory Lampasona, Cassidy Staunton, Matt McKeown, Ashley Rickord, Steph Smith, Jake Rickord, Jake Alleruzzo, and Ashley Dudek, an Interact Club student from Bremen High School. 

Thanks also to teacher Valerie Kazich who was subbing for Mr. McDonough the Interact faculty sponsor, for helping with the blood draw set-up.

Other helpers: Club treasurer Dorothy Kennedy, who prepared the checks/payment of food and supplies needed.  Special thanks to Savka Mladenovich for running the programs and lining up the OFHS Choir and Jazz Ensembles, and Cindy Grannon for helping recruit the park district performers and Gina Byrnes at the park district for her help with the scheduling the groups from the Park District.  

The team from Heartland Blood Centers: Team Leaders Kia Baker and
Tom Cutter. Phlebotomist Alfreda Cody Adams, Felix Hawkins, Nancy Martin, Cicely Martin Salami, James Rea. 

Oak Forest Blood Donors: As mentioned earlier Blood Drive Chair, Jim Watson reported we had a very successful drive, 50 pints collected and 3 deferred.  They join the other Oak Forest Citizen Blood donors who have given more than 9,000 pints of blood to our Rotary Blood drives since 1976 when our Rotary Club blood drive was founded.

More helpers:

• Rosie Tovar, the Oak Forest High School cook, for her help preparing the food and drinks.
• School custodians Angie Gallegos and Eugene Reyna for their help with set-up and cleaning up.