New Date for Sportsman Breakfast, Same Service Provided

The smell of pancakes, eggs, and ham drift through the air in Sandy. People follow the smell as their stomach rumbles, and find themselves in front of the Sandy Fire Department. There is only one time a year when pancakes are served for the public at the station: during Sportsman Breakfast.

Sportsman Breakfast is conducted by Kiwanis as of two years ago. Previously, Sandy Fire Department Volunteers ran the breakfast but when they transferred to Clackamas Fire, problems arose for Sportsman Breakfast. 

“We were approached a couple years ago by the volunteers at Sandy Fire. They had a dilemma with the reconstruction of Sandy Fire becoming Clackamas Fire. Clackamas Fire is not permitted to raise funds [for solely Sandy purposes],” Sportsman Breakfast coordinator and Kiwanis secretary Dale Scobert said. “They could no longer run it and fundraise off of it and provide scholarships [to only Sandy High School] with the money and do the things they do in service to the community. But they knew we knew how to do a pancake breakfast.” 

Sandy Kiwanis, a local organization focusing on service, issues numerous events for the community to support them. One popular event is their Cruise In, a combination of pancake breakfast and car show. 

“We have had our own pancake breakfast and Cruise In and for most of the time it was a fly in cruise in,” Scobert said. 

With Sandy Kiwanis experience in community events and pancakes, their success in Sportsman Breakfast was inevitable. Today, Sportsman Breakfast is a partnership between Kiwanis and Sandy Fire Department. 

“Today, and for the last two years now, this is our third year, this is a partnership between Kiawnis and Sandy Fire,” Scobert said. 

The breakfast itself is composed of a food line serving pancakes, eggs, and ham, a raffle, and an auction. Now that Kiwanis manages it, they are in charge of everything except the manual labor (set-up) which Sandy Fire assists with. All the funding from this goes towards scholarships, the Sandy Fire tradition of Sportsman Breakfast. 

“We take the funds from that event and we carry on fire department history and provide two scholarships in the fire department named for high school seniors in the emergency service world,” Scobert said. 

The scholarship allows support to seniors in achieving their goals after high school. Kiwanis and Sandy Fire want to provide opportunities for students, especially those desiring to work in the emergency service field. 

“The money all comes from this event. We are supporting our fire department and the community is supporting both of us,” Scobert said. 

The beloved tradition of Sportsman Breakfast will remain the same as people know it, but there is one significant difference: the date. This year, Sportsman's Breakfast will occur on Oct. 3 instead of April. Due to the amount of events both programs run, having it in April represented a conflict. 

“The world has changed. Fishing season is all over the place now. Due to the amount of other volunteer stuff we do and programs and activities at the fire department, it became advantageous to move it to Oct. 3,” Scobert said. 

Sportsman’s Breakfast historically indicated the start of fishing season that occurred on a selected opening day. It became a tradition to stop at the station for a morning breakfast before going fishing. However, with the new date change, Sportsman Breakfast is now for the start of hunting season. 

The raffle and auction focuses on local business products that are associated with fishing, and now hunting, due to date change. This revenue provides the necessary funds for the scholarship. 

“We contact local businesses for donations of the gear and stuff for hunting and fishing. It can be gift baskets of sportsman-related things and just about anything businesses will give us to sell at the event,” Scobert said. The items for both the raffle and auction vary every year. 

“We never know exactly everything we are going to get. Word gets out that Kiawnis are at it again,” Scobert said. 

Both Sandy Fire’s and Kiwanis’ priority is providing service to the community. Scholarships are one way both accomplish this goal.  

“It follows the tenets of Sandy Kiwanis: being of service. All our fundraising goes to support programs for the youth. Scholarships are a big one,” Scobert said. While Sportsman Breakfast has changed dates this year and Kiwanis will be coordinating it for the third year, the foundation remains the same: community service. 

“It’s another way we can give back to the community and it’s much like Sandy Fire. They are a service organization. They provide a service of protecting life and property and they have always been big supporters. They like to stay active within our local community just like us,” Scobert said. 

In October, during the start of the bitter cold, a warm meal of breakfast offerings will be served in the Sandy Fire Station. However, this breakfast has more behind it than the tasty flavor: it’s a gathering point for community service to support local seniors in their journey to college.