Cloudy skies don’t deter pancake diners from raising $3,000 for The Soldiers Project/Sacramento

ROSEVILLE – As gray skies overhead threatened rain at any moment, intrepid diners ate their way through several hundred pancakes and even more sausages one Saturday morning last month … not just to enjoy an al fresco dining experience, but also to help raise about $3,000 for The Soldiers Project/Sacramento. 

Organized and hosted by St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church in Roseville, the event was the Third Annual Pancake Breakfast for Veterans, this year held on Sept. 21.

“Our sincere appreciation goes out to the St. Anna congregation for sponsoring this event,” said Becca Bettis, TSP program director in the Sacramento region. “The volunteers work so hard to put the breakfast on and we know it’s a heartfelt effort.”

Between pancake breakfast sales and individual donations, about $1,950 was raised for The Soldiers Project, which provides free psychotherapy to active-duty military members and veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families. TSP’s volunteer therapists focus on the treatment of post-traumatic stress and the symptoms of traumatic brain injury, problems that can arise long after veterans leave the service and come home.

Another $1,000 was donated by Conoco Phillips, which contributes through an employee match program. Mike Dindio, the church’s volunteer coordinator for the breakfast, is a Conoco Phillips retiree. Another $300 was given by key sponsor USAA, a leader in financial products and services to the military community, to offset food costs plus a $50 gift card directly to TSP.

Other in-kind donations came from Brookfields Restaurant, Carlson Insurance Agency, Costco, Denny’s, Nugget Market, Raley’s, Safeway and Starbucks.

The Soldiers Project/Sacramento, named in 2012 by the White House as one of the nation’s top 20 military service organizations, is comprised of about 45 volunteer therapists who last year gave nearly 1,000 hours of free treatment to soldiers and their families. Its unlimited services go beyond those provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs medical system.

For more information about The Soldiers Project/Sacramento and its programs, visit www.tspsacramento.org or visit the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/tspsacramento. To be connected with a therapist, call locally 916-792-3728 or toll-free 877-557-5888 or e-mail Sacramento@TheSoldiersProject.org.