For over 55 years, members of the Clinton Kiwanis Club have been serving up pancakes and sausage to the local community during its annual February feast, an event that brings people together for good food and great fellowship and serves as the catalyst for the funding of myriad local projects.

This week will be no different — just as good just as fun and just as beneficial to thousands of youngsters and adults helped by the dozens of programs the Kiwanis Club contributes to each year.

Now in its 58th year, the Pancake & Sausage Feast will be held Friday, Feb. 26, from 5 until 7:30 p.m., and again Saturday, Feb. 27, from 6:30 until 9:30 a.m., at the Sunset Avenue Elementary School cafeteria. Attendees can eat in or, if so desired, carry a plate home with them. In fact, those who love the ‘cakes and sausage so much can do both.

We just hope people will continue to support the event with the same gusto of years past, when, time after time, the cafeteria has been teeming with people who have come together to catch up, share a laugh or two, perhaps even a hug, all while enjoying some of the best pancakes and sausage you’ll ever sink your teeth into.

Sampson County residents seem to look as forward each year to the feast as they do to the Super Bowl, eager to scoop up the tickets that Kiwanians will gladly sell right up until the final pancake is flipped.

Like so many other fundraising events held in Sampson, the feast offers an opportunity for people to come together, give back and get a little something in return by way of a delicious meal and a whole bunch of thanks from the men and women who make up the Clinton Kiwanis Club.

The giving, though, starts long before the first cake comes off the griddle. Generous companies and individuals like Smokey Norris at US Foods and the folks over at Smithfield help make the event possible, courtesy of donations of money and supplies.

Norris and US foods contribute the cases of pancake batter, along with assundry other paper products and condiments and Smithfield provides the means to buy the hundreds of pounds of sausage it takes for the feast. But they aren’t the only ones who have helped along the way; there are others, including Star Telephone, Parker Gas and individuals like Dwight Saunders, who either store, provide or test the griddles, all to ensure the feast goes off without a hitch.

And then there’s the Kiwanians, themselves, who give countless hours selling tickets, making preparations for the event and working the two-day feast.

It’s no small task to put on such a tremendous event, but the Kiwanis Club members pull it off with great aplomb every year, we we thank them for it.

As we’ve repeatedly said, the event is akin to a family reunion, a place where people gather to enjoy one another’s company and the vittles being prepared just a few feet away. But the feast is much more than just good eating and good fellowship, too. It’s benefits are far-reaching, with money raised from the event supporting such worthwhile causes as the Terrific Kids programs in all the elementary schools; scholarships for area high schools and the community college; Key Clubs in all the high schools; and projects like Back Pack Buddies, Bicycles for Terrific Kids, the Chamber’s Coat Closet and Fitness Renaissance, just to name a few.

So while you’re enjoying those pancakes this weekend, remember the good you are doing, knowing that supporting the Kiwanis Club, like so many other great civic groups in our midst, betters our community.