Boy Scouts help out ensuring everyone has all they need
Published in the Nov. 12-25, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Photo by Marty Cheek
Boy Scout Ryan Valenzuela pours coffee for Denise Melroy at the Nov. 2 Grange breakfast.
Nola Martini encourages local breakfast enthusiasts to come to the monthly Morgan Hill Grange Pancake Breakfast community event and partake of the griddle cakes and other scrumptious culinary offerings. For a $5 donation, the hot and hearty pancakes can’t be beat.
“It’s the best pancake in town for the best price because it’s made with magic and love,” the Grange club volunteer said with a laugh as she prepared a plate of two pancakes, scrambled eggs, peach slices and a breakfast sausage for a breakfast diner. She added a small cup of apple cobbler that had come piping hot out of the oven and said, “We always have something new every month.”
The breakfast takes place the first Sunday of every month between 8 and 11 a.m. at the Grange Building at 40 East Fourth Street. The Morgan Hill Grange is a not-for-profit organization and the money raised goes to scholarships for local youth as well as community support, said Lynn Liebschutz , a Grange member helping out with the Nov. 2 breakfast. The pancake fund-raising tradition goes back to at least the early 1980s when Liebschutz became a member, and most likely dates longer than that, he said.
“This was all agricultural area at one time,” he said. “When the Grange started, this area was mostly farmers. But it’s not so many farmers any more. It’s still patrons of husbandry, which is farming.”
The Morgan Hill Grange has about 80 members. It costs $32 for an annual membership.
At the Nov. 2 breakfast, Andy Anderson, a resident with his wife of Morgan Hill for the past 17 years, said that he and his wife followed the back roads from San Jose to the the South Valley on a Sunday morning drive about 30 years ago and happened to stumble up the Grange breakfast when they explored Morgan Hill’s downtown. The breakfast helped them appreciate the charm of Morgan Hill’s downtown and led them to eventually move here.
“The breakfast is great,” Anderson said. “The pancakes are tasty. For five dollars, the food is very good. And it’s good to see the kids do something with their time.”
Ron Erickson, a Morgan Hill resident and member of the Grange, stuffed a hearty forkful of pancake lathered in syrup into his mouth and proclaimed: “It’s very good and adequate. I would say there’s much more variety of food than I get at home. It’s pretty darn good. I have no complaints.”
Young Boy Scouts and members of the Live Oak and Sobrato high schools Future Farmers of America programs help out in bringing breakfast plates to people waiting at the tables in the large room adjacent to the Grange kitchen. Some fill up cups with coffee or tea or bring glasses of orange juice to the breakfasters.
One of the young men is Morgan Hill resident Cory Carlson, a sophomore at Live Oak. He got involved in the FFA program after he saw how much fun his older brother had in it, he said.
“Some people are serving the tables, pouring coffee and making sure everyone has food and everything they need,” he said.
Ryan Valenzuela, a Boy Scout in local Troop 730, said he’s a big pancake fan and has fun serving.
“I help out with whatever they need done,” he said after pouring black coffee into a cup. “It’s fun because at the end you get to eat the amazing pancakes. They are amazing. And the other stuff is good too.”
He recommends that people who appreciate a hearty pancake breakfast try out what the Grange offers. “Come down to the Grange and have their amazing pancakes,” he encouraged.
People can also purchase pancake breakfasts “to go” and bring them home.
The Grange will hold its third annual craft fair Nov. 21-23.
