If you ate pancakes and sausage at the armory in Ahoskie Thursday, you were one of more than 1,000 people who took advantage of the Ahoskie Rotary Club’s Annual Pancake and Sausage Day to enjoy some good food and even better fellowship.

Richard Jernigan, a longtime member of the club, said Friday morning, “It was really well supported by the community, like always. It’s been a social event now for 57 years.”

Club member Anita Thompson, who kept track of tickets during the day, said 999 were turned in. She said about 300 people were served during the lunch period and 700 during the supper period.

How many pancakes was that? That’s tough to say, because it was an all-you-can-eat event. But club member Don Joyner, who was one of those in charge of keeping the pancake cooks supplied with batter, said Friday morning that about 80 gallons of batter was mixed during the day.

I got to be a pancake cook, and I consider that an honor. When I started, my pancakes varied a lot in size. At one point, Jernigan wandered by my griddle and wondered, less than diplomatically, “What are you making there, David, pies?”

But by the time I turned my griddle off that night, though, my pancakes were pretty consistent in both size and color.

I’m proud of that.

Joyner also estimated that about 4,000 sausage patties were made up for the event.

I got to be a part of that process, too.

Club members gathered Tuesday night at the Ahoskie Inn to turn the 500 pounds of bulk sausage donated by Godwin’s Country Meats to the club for the annual event into patties. Godwin’s doing that is more than generous and is a tremendous contribution not only to the club, but to the many and varied local entities that benefit from the money raised by the Rotary Club through the Pancake & Sausage Day project.

Furthermore, it’s the best sausage I’ve ever tasted and I’ve tasted a lot of sausage over the years. My to-do list today says, “Go buy sausage from Godwin Country Meats” and I promise there will be a check mark beside that one before the day is over.

Also contributing a lot to the success of the event was Amerigas, which donated all the propane used to fuel the pancake griddles and the cookers used to prepare the sausage.

And, finally, the milk available at the armory was donated by Maola… And what good are pancakes without milk?

Assisting the Rotarians during the day were Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts and members of the Hertford County High School Rotary Interact Club. They did everything from keeping the pancake cooks supplied with batter to making sure anyone who wanted second (or third or fourth) helpings of pancakes and sausage had those.

The Ahoskie Rotary Club does a lot to benefit deserving organizations in and around Ahoskie.

The club contributes to both the Girl and Boy Scouts, for instance, and to the food pantry.

It contributes to the library.

The local club makes possible the participation of four local young people in the RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) program every year and that is a program that deserves a column unto itself.

On a much wider scale, the Ahoskie Rotarians contribute, along with other Rotary clubs worldwide, to the Rotary International Polio Plus program (and there’s another potential column).

If you were among the 1,000 or so people who ate pancakes and sausage with the Rotarians and a lot of your other neighbors Thursday, you’re a part of all that, too.

On behalf of the club, thanks.

David Sullens is president of Roanoke-Chowan Publications LLC and publisher of the Roanoke-Chowan News Herald and the Gates County Index.