Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on Omaha.com
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WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
It’s a good day to be a pancake lover.
IHOP restaurants across the country, including locations in the Omaha area, offered a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes to customers to mark National Pancake Day. The special day celebrates the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals’ 30th anniversary.
IHOP patrons received their complimentary stack from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday, and they were asked to contribute to charity. The local restaurants’ donations were going to Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha.
At the La Vista location, 7201 S. 84th St., manager Gladdie Supensky, 41, said she was expecting 300 to 400 customers, “and it could be more.”
She said the 300 to 400 patrons would equal what the restaurant serves on Sundays, IHOP’s busiest day.
The La Vista IHOP had extra workers on hand to meet Tuesday’s demand, Supensky said.
“A lot of people know about National Pancake Day,” she said. “It’s fantastic, plus it’s for a good cause.”
The pancakes were free, she said, but additional items and drinks were not. There was no minimum charge.
Two early diners at the La Vista restaurant also applauded the charity event.
“It’s a special treat to help out such a good cause.” said Amanda Wozab, 29, of Ralston.
Wozab stopped at the IHOP on Tuesday morning before heading for her job at Conestoga-Rogers & Associates, an engineering firm, on South 119th Street.
“I invited him for a breakfast date,” she said about her father, Marvin Beerman, 60, also of Ralston.
Beerman was also pleased that their donation would go to Children’s Hospital, and he said he and his daughter meet at IHOP once every three months or so.
Brad Johnson, 50, of Lincoln and Barb Schulz, 48, of Omaha visited the La Vista IHOP early Tuesday after their overnight shifts as respiratory therapists at the Bellevue Medical center.
“We knew about it,” Johnson said about National Pancake Day.
He said they were donating a couple of dollars to the cause.
Tuesday marked the eighth year that IHOP has held National Pancake Day. IHOP restaurants have raised more than $10 million for charities since the campaign began in 2006.
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