Lincoln Chapel United Methodist Church Gallery

A Hole In One
     Before the sun rose above the gorgeous mountains of the West End, dedicated Lincoln Chapel members were at the helm of an enormous donut-making operation, setting the pace for a record-breaking day, in terms of sales and willing hands on deck. The carefully coordinated event took place on Tuesday, February 20, when the lower floor, where countless Sunday School classes, Bible studies, fellowship meals and Kidsclub meetings have taken place, was transformed into a veritable donut factory.
     Bob Vanatta ensured his entry into the Donut Day Hall of Fame by being the first to arrive. As I have heard, Bob arrived around 4:15 a.m.; some speculated even earlier.
     The relaxing morning turned busy when the group was informed that our orders were large this year. Once again, the Donut Day Hall of Fame will see 2007 with another new record. This was proving to be a record-breaking year. At the beginning of the day, Lincoln Chapel had already sold 265 dozen donuts and it was only 7:00 a.m. After looking through past notes, it seems this year has broken the record for the most dozen sold – 390. There was discussion of a year with over 400 dozen. Upon reviewing Donut Day notes we did, indeed, have a 405 dozen year; however, for an unknown reason we were only able to fill 348 dozen.
     Since we’re on a roll of breaking records – how about the number of people who came to help! At one point, I counted 7 men frying, 6 women sugaring, 5 people mixing, 4 people cutting, 3 people bagging, 2 people filling orders, and 1 very floured Lydia.
I was in awe of Lydia Showalter mixing dough, Noah Snare cutting donuts from the dough, and Luke Snare taking care of all the bagging. The truly remarkable part of having three of our young people with us was the length of time they worked – no less than 5 hours for Lydia, 8 or more for Luke and Noah.
     And before you ask, the United Methodist Women raised over $1207.18 to be used toward missions. No one could have known that our donuts would be so well liked. The phone kept ringing as people asked for more and more donuts and we soon found ourselves having to say we had no more donuts to sell. It was great to hear stores calling for more donuts with the “I’ll take all you can give me!”
     Donut Day began with the hope of just making 150 dozen donuts to almost tripling that amount. Talk has already begun for the next year! That’s hard to imagine, isn’t it?
     During the course of the morning, Lincoln Chapel was the center of attention as we realized a gentleman moving among the people with a special badge – Inspector #10. To ensure the donuts were made of the best quality materials, this inspector checked batches of donuts as they came out of the kitchen. The group made 48 batches of dough that day so there was quite a bit of testing going on! After receiving the thumbs up, the group worked even harder to fill orders for local companies.
     The United Methodist Women owe a successful Donut Day not just to those who organized it, but also to every person who donated items or funds; to every person who showed up to help mix dough, or cut, or fry, or sugar; to every person who took orders, placed orders, or delivered; and to every person who ate donuts.
     Pictures from the day are located on the church website, www.lincolnchapel.com, along with previous years. THANK YOU to everyone!

Donut Day Awards
Earliest Riser - For arriving at 4:15 a.m. before anyone else was out of bed…Bob Vanatta

Most Sales - For pasting order sheets in every local business in the county…John Benfer

Ate the Most Donuts - For checking the 48 batches of donuts before they were delivered…Inspector #10

Youngest Helper - For doing what she likes to do best – cook…Lydia Showalter

Longest Hours Worked - For not getting any sleep in three days…Kafy Long

Sweetest - For always sugar-coating our donuts…Lois Pick

Farthest Traveled Donuts - For the longest ride of any donut so far…York, Pa.

Donut Day Jokester - For seeing humor in everything from dough rising to working until 6:30 p.m…Ron Keister

Mathematician - For being able to count to 12 over and over and over…Luke Snare

Architect - For building up morale, all day long…Noah Snare