The Kiwanis Club of Lake Bluff and Lake Forest fulfills an important agenda item each holiday season hosting a special visit with Santa Claus for area children.
This year’s Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast with Santa was held from 7 a.m. to noon on Dec. 7, at Grace United Methodist Church in Lake Bluff.
David Lee, treasurer and event coordinator for Kiwanis Lake Bluff & Lake Forest, says they’ve held this annual breakfast event for close to 40 years.
“This is a fun event, that everyone loves, and the children really make it all worthwhile,” Lee said.
“Everyone enjoys the pancakes and having their photo taken with Santa, but not everyone thinks about the good that their participation in the event will do,” Lee added.
Bob Senko attended with family and says that he and his family were long-time residents of Lake Bluff before moving to Coronado, California.
“We returned for this breakfast with Santa event, there is nothing like it anywhere and Lake Bluff is really small town U.S.A., and still feels like home to us,” Senko said.
This event serves as a fundraiser for Kiwanis and is hosted in partnership with the Lake Bluff Park District.
On the website, the Kiwanis mission states ‘to serve the children of the world’, improving the lives of children globally through various volunteer efforts focused on areas like health, education, and youth leadership development — the Lake Bluff, Lake Forest Chapter has been serving kids since 1923.
Over 300 attended the breakfast, and advance registration provided tiered seating for with Santa at $10 per person, for those 3 and up.
Chad Thompson of Lake Bluff says their family loves to have the chance to share Christmas wishes with Santa at this great community event.
“We had to do some role-playing this morning before meeting Santa but I’m pleased to say their sit down with him was successful,” Thompson said.
Lee says this year’s proceeds from the Pancake Breakfast will go to Bravo Waukegan, a Lake Forest-based non-profit, that funds music education programs in Waukegan Public Schools, and will expand their inventory of musical instruments to include the purchase of clarinets, trumpets, violins, guitars and more.
“Our club is really a family of members who work to serve children in various ways, and seeing the reactions of the kids here today, it can’t help but bring you back to your own memories of childhood and Santa Claus,” Lee said.
Gina Grillo is a freelancer with Pioneer Press.
