The Inaugural Miss Richmond County: IHOP's National Pancake Day

Before I made my appearance with the Staten Island Rotary, I woke up very early (5AM to be exact) and headed to IHOP for National Pancake Day, which was an all day event from 7AM-10PM. This was the fifth year IHOP has been sponsoring this widely popular event. National Pancake Day is the fundraiser benefiting the Children's Miracle Network, The Miss America Organization's National Platform. Caressa Cameron, our reigning Miss America, has been announced as the spokesperson for this year's National Pancake Day in addition to already being the Goodwill Ambassador for the Children's Miracle Network. Basically what happens is people come to IHOP to enjoy a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes. In return, guests are asked to donate what they would have paid for the free pancakes, or more, to the Children’s Miracle Network hospital in their community. Since beginning its National Pancake Day celebration in 2006, IHOP has raised more than $3.25 million to support charities in the communities in which it operates. Usually, IHOP's National Pancake Day typically takes place on Fat Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday, which signifies the start of Lent), this year the company decided to host its free pancake event on Tuesday, February 23, in order to extend the fundraising efforts by one week to maximize donations for Children's Miracle Network. This year, IHOP hopes to raise $1.75 million, which would make the cumulative fundraising efforts $5 million to commemorate the five years IHOP has hosted this event.

This was the second year I participated in National Pancake Day. Last year, I attended the event as Miss Staten Island helping IHOP raise $1.3 million for the Children's Miracle Network. I was excited to be able to participate once again at my local IHOP but this time as Miss Richmond County. I invited Kara Jae Kowalski, Miss New York's Outstanding Teen 2009, to accompany me that morning. We greeted guests, signed autographs, and told them how they could donate to the Children's Miracle Network. As we were enjoying our free stack of pancakes, Greg T from the Elvis Duran and the Z100 Morning Show walked into IHOP while on the air! He mentioned the event on Z100 and even gave Kara and I a shout out! We invited him to our table for some pancakes as we talked to him about the event and our platforms. He even donated $65 to the organization! It was truly a successful event on Staten Island. We had a wonderful time promoting the Miss America National Platform. For more information on National Pancake Day, visit http://www.ihoppancakeday.com/.