Ten church ladies helped the Greater Greensboro community celebrate Shrove Tuesday (March 1) with the Greensboro United Church of Christ (GUCC) annual pancake supper. Organized by Deacon Chair Shelly Jungwirth, under the watchful eye of Moderator Judy Dales, GUCC provided 100 free flapjack dinners via grab ‘n’ go distribution as people drove through the church parking lot.

The ladies reported for work in shifts throughout the day beginning at 11:30 a.m. to prepare the batter and cook the sausages. Soon fluffy pancakes, using Carol Smith’s original Highland Lodge recipe from years ago, began leaving the griddle for packaging in compostable containers with sausages, butter, and real Lumsden Vermont maple syrup. Many hands made light work: B.J. Gray cooked sausages; Shelly and Christine Pierpont separated the yolks from the whites (one of the secrets of fluffier pancakes); Nancy Hill, with supervision by the legendary Judy Dales (shown here at our very first pancake supper), mixed the batter; and Cilla Bonney-Smith, Jan Travers, and Gazette Columnist Joyce Slayton Mitchell cooked the pancakes. Finally, Eleanor Guare and Paula Harmon provided the containers to hungry drivers from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. while snow was falling.

Shrove Tuesday is the celebration preceding the somber 40 days of Lent and Christ’s Crucifixion. Because many people chose to fast, Shrove Tuesday became the day to use up all the rich food left in the house, hence the tradition of pancakes on this day before Ash Wednesday.