Morgan Hall
The Ashland Beacon
Dee Jones, with help from others, has been organizing this upcoming character pancake breakfast event at the El Hasa Shrine. Jones explained her relationship to the Shrine, "My husband is John Jones, who is a member at El Hasa Shrine Temple. We love and are dedicated to the shrine and our shrine children. In 2022, we were given the honor of taking over the planning of the shrine children's Christmas party. After many years of dedicated planning the shrine children's Christmas party, Becky Rayborn decided to retire. I have worked with Becky for several years planning this party. This is our favorite party of the year at El Hasa Temple."
What made these folks decide to host a pancake breakfast? Jones elaborates on the motivation behind this fundraiser, " We felt that we needed to do something to raise money for the shrine patient children's Christmas party. The character breakfast seemed to be a fun way to raise money. Cash Vaughters, Lena Justice and I came up with this plan."
The Shriners intend for the proceeds for this upcoming fundraiser to fund the children’s Christmas party this December, what a better way to allocate the money. "The proceeds from this fundraiser will help fund the Shrine Children's Christmas party. This is a very special Christmas party, as all of the attendees are Shrine patients, at our Shrine hospitals for children," added Jones. They anticipate a good turnout for this event, so they're encouraging everyone in the community to go out and show their support. "We do expect a good turnout, we have pre-sold tickets and tickets can be purchased the day of the character breakfast. Open entry will be $10. We hope to make this an annual event," shared Jones.
Every fundraiser has people working behind the scenes to make it happen. "We have awesome volunteers, both Cash Vaughters and Lena Justice. We have worked together to plan this character breakfast and in planning our Shrine patients Christmas party. I have had donations of pancake batter from A&J Camper Rentals and sausage from Robert Adkins and the Notre Dame High School cheerleaders. The day of the breakfast, we have many volunteers including Nobel's, their ladies and family showing up to make this event a success. We appreciate them all so much. I also want to thank Illustrious Sir Eddie Hazelett for allowing and encouraging us to have this character breakfast, without our shrine family- we could not do this," said Jones.
Jones concluded with all the details for attending this event, "For our character breakfast, we will have lots of princesses and superheroes. We will have princess makeovers and face painting also, with a few raffle baskets. The menu will be pancakes, sausage, apple juice and/ or milk. We expect this to be lots of fun for boys and girls of all ages, we hope to see you there!"
If everyone in the community comes together and attends this upcoming breakfast, the El Hasa Shrine can put on one of the best Christmas parties for their patients to date. The joy is always in the giving, not in the getting. So come on out and support the children, Christmas is just around the corner. Let's make it a merry one for the kids. Join in on October 8 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The cost per person is $10.