Junior Austin Veiga saved a senior center’s pancake breakfast by volunteering to run the monthly fundraiser
Junior Austin Veiga shows off his pancake-making skills. Veiga takes a group of students from Villa Maria Hall once a month to Holly- wood Senior Center where they help run their pancake breakfast. (Monica McAllister | The Beacon)
By Philip Ellefson, Staff Writer -- ellefson15@up.edu
Once a month, junior Austin Veiga and a team of UP students bring out their inner lumberjack at Hollywood Senior Center and cook up a big breakfast of pancakes and bacon.
"Over last summer, a few of the leaders at the Hollywood Senior Center passed away," Veiga said. "They were in charge of the pancake breakfast, so they needed someone to take it over and restart it."
The Hollywood Senior Center is a nonprofit organization that provides services and programs for older adults. One of their programs is a monthly pancake breakfast, a 20-year tradition at the center. The breakfast raises money for the center and provides a social setting for seniors.
Veiga, the Service and Justice Coordinator (SJC) for Villa Maria Hall, was looking for an organization to partner with for the year. When he heard the sad news at Hollywood Senior Center, he decided to work with them.
"We talked it over and I thought it was the perfect opportunity for Villa," Veiga said.
Since September, Veiga has been taking a team of 10 to 12 students from Villa Maria to the senior center once a month. The team cooks and serves pancakes, with real maple syrup donated by a company in Vermont, bacon, eggs, coffee and orange juice.
Amber Kern-Johnson, executive director of Hollywood Senior Center, said everyone appreciates the UP students' involvement.
"Our seniors really enjoy having the students here," Kern-Johnson said. "We are really thankful for Austin and the other students. It's been great."
The program has grown since Veiga started leading it in September. He said more people than ever showed up to eat at the pancake breakfast in March.
"We had the most amount of people we've ever had. And it wasn't just seniors, it was people from the community who heard about what's going on," Veiga said. "It's great to hear that it's growing and that people are interested."
Freshman Mitchell Stricker has served at the pancake breakfast every month since October. He enjoys being part of a community that gets to serve others.
"A lot of the people I go with have become a lot of my good friends this year," Stricker said. "The coolest thing about it is just a lot of good community."
Sometimes the students have the opportunity to form relationships with the elderly through their service at the breakfast. One of the regulars at the breakfast is a UP alum.
"He graduated here in 1948, and he has all the best stories of what UP used to be like when he was here," Veiga said. "Everybody knows that guy when he walks in."
Kern-Johnson said the UP students' service at Hollywood Senior Center has been important to the organization.
"It means a lot to the seniors who come, and it keeps the breakfast going," Kern-Johnson said. "We will definitely miss the students when they're gone."
Veiga said the pancake breakfast has been a great opportunity for him and the other students to get involved in a different community.
"I've seen so many new faces come to the center, and so many new faces come with me," Veiga said. "I think it's wonderful to see that there's opportunity for college students to interact with a group they don't see on a regular basis."
