Two local unions have come together to host a pancake and sausage breakfast Saturday to benefit area Warsaw Community Schools kids.
Warsaw Professional Firefighters Local 5461 President Max Kinsey explained, “We partnered with the Steelworkers from Johnson & Johnson MedTech (formerly DePuy-Synthes) to see if we could raise money for the schools. The schools have several different meal programs. One is for the holidays, bringing in meals for children that are less fortunate that may not get those good Christmas meals that a lot of people get through the holidays. And, we’re in talks with them to supply for the lunch deficit as well, for the free and reduced lunches.”
He said the schools eat a lot of those costs, and the two unions are hoping to raise funds to help cover that as well.
Kristy Hooker, United Steelworkers Local 809 financial secretary, said the breakfast is 7 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 19 at the Shrine Building at the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds.
“It’s pretty much till it’s gone and it’s a cash donation,” she said. “... We had a hard time deciding on an amount, so we just thought it would be better to do a free-will donation, so whatever they can give.”
The breakfast will include pancakes, sausage and eggs, along with milk, juice or coffee to drink. Volunteers from both local unions will be cooking the food.
“We’re just hoping to get a good turnout and raise some money for the schools,” Hooker said.
Kinsey said this was the first time the two unions have held a fundraiser together.
“We both have a shared goal. We want to make the community better. We want to help the kids in the community, and after talking to Kristy and Jeff, Jeff’s the president (of United Steelworkers Local 809) - the Steelworkers have been very generous to us getting up and running, letting us use their building, things like that. So then we started talking, just having conversations. It’s like we have a lot of the same goals to make the community better,” Kinsey said.
They then reached out to the schools to see what they needed. The schools brought up the holiday dinners and lunch programs.
“So we just wanted to do something. We put our heads together, came up with this that maybe gets some people out, gets some people donating money to a really good cause,” he said.
Hooker said, “I think a lot of times people have the bad reputation of the unions, and I don’t think they really understand because they haven’t maybe been involved in one, so that might be part of it. So I just feel like it helps get us out there so the community can see that we’re here more to help them and not be about ourselves.”
She gave a special thank-you to Creighton Brothers for donating eggs to the breakfast, and to the fairgrounds for waiving the rental fee for the Shrine Building. With less cost to the unions to have the breakfast, Kinsey said that will allow more of the funds raised to go to the kids.
All of the proceeds from the event go to help the kids.
“That’s what it was all about,” Hooker stated.
Kinsey concluded, “Come out and support a good cause.”