The Ninth Annual Community Veteran’s Day Pancake Breakfast in Kinder will be this weekend, November 4, from 6 to 10 a.m. at the Grand Church in Kinder.
“It’s open to everyone; open to the public and anyone who supports veterans,” Eric Kuyper, organizer and commander of the Alvin L. Nevils American Legion Post 244, Kinder, explained.
Kuyper said if you like free food, you should attend the breakfast in Kinder. “It’s not just for veterans,” he said. “This event is to honor our veterans.” He said they want people to come to the event and pay honor to the veterans by enjoying breakfast with them, visit with them and learn something new.
There will be a lot of food. Last year, the pancake breakfast served a little over 400 people in four hours, including 115 veterans. This year, the goal is for 500 people and 150 veterans.
Organizers are planning for 150 veterans. There will be free gift bags for the first 150 veterans coming to the event. Those bags will be filled with gifts and information for veterans including benefit information. Veterans also will have a chance at 100 door prizes from crafts made and donated by local artists and vendors. There’s gift cards, cooking items, fishing items and a $400 voucher from L’Auberge Casino Resort in Lake Charles.
Everyone who attends will receive a free breakfast. Last year, Kuyper said they made over 2,000 pancakes. And the group cooked over 120 pounds of eggs, 75 pounds of bacon, 60 pounds of sausage, 90 pounds of pancake mix, 20 gallons of orange juice, eight gallons of milk, two cases of Little Debbie™ cakes and six dozens of apples, oranges and bananas.
This year’s menu will include lots of the same items. They have 60 pounds of sausage patties from Patriot Brothers LLC Gourmet Cajun Meats in Basile, a small veteran owned business; 40 pounds of sausage links from Chadeaux’s Cajun Kitchen and 75 pounds of bacon from Rhea’s Specialty Meats in Basile, according to Kuyper. There will be scramble eggs, fruit, pancakes, Borden’s orange juice and milk and Community Coffee® again.
At 9:30 a.m., there will be a drawing for the raffle tickets local veterans have been selling and will sell that morning. The Oberlin American Legion Post 144 will raffle off five different firearms. The Kinder veterans’ groups will give the first place winner a golf cart valued over $12,000; second place a restaurant gift bag valued over $500 in restaurant gift cards; and third place is a rocking chair made by veterans at the Allen Parish Correctional Center. They also have a rustic American flag wall hanger to give away.
Students from Kinder High’s BETA and FBLA groups will be serving the food.
Guests will be able to visit with and pose for photos with the Allen Parish queens’ court and Kinder queens’ court, who will be assisting at the event.
At 8 a.m., the VFW will announce the area’s three top winners in its Voice of Democracy Contest. First place will receive $100; second, $50; and third, $25 gift cards. The winners will compete in the district contest next. If they make it to the national contest and win, the prize is a $35,000 scholarship.
Two free memberships to the VFW Post and four free memberships to any Allen Parish American Legion post (Oberlin, Oakdale and Kinder) will be up for grabs for new members. Kuyper said this is perfect for those who have always wanted to join and never did in the past.
There is a lot of parking, according to Kuyper. The doors will open at 6 a.m. There will be someone working the parking lot with a golf cart to assist those who cannot walk the distance to the church.
American Legion veterans from Oberlin, Elton, Oakdale and Kinder will be present. There will be other area veteran organizations also present.
From 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs will have a representative on site to help veterans with benefits and claims for health, education, etc. on site.
