The brothers of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and participating MSU students were stuffing their mouths with several stacks of pancakes Tuesday, with the hopes of raising funds to send care packages to troops overseas.
Held from 6-9 p.m. at the East Lansing IHOP, 2771 E. Grand River Ave., the event has been hosted by Phi Kappa Psi for several years every fall, and this is the first year funds will go to the troops.
Leading the event is Phi Kappa Psi Philanthropy Chair Brian Kriedberg, who said the idea to support the troops was a unanimous decision from the fraternity’s committee.
“The committee is responsible for coming up with a different organization to support every year,” Kriedberg said. “This year, the idea came up right after Nov. 11, which is Veterans Day, and it kind of sparked the whole concept.”
Participants arrived throughout the night and paid a $6 entrance fee to see how many pancakes they could consume in one sitting.
Each competitor’s total pancake count was recorded, and at the end of the night the first, second and third place winners were notified via phone.
Winning $50 and the first place slot was political science junior Dan Fabiano, who ingested a total of 13 pancakes. As a current member of Phi Kappa Psi, Fabiano said he has competed in the pancake eating contest for the last two years.
“There were definitely two winners tonight: me and the troops,” Fabiano said. “I wasn’t even planning on eating pancakes tonight — I don’t even like them, but it’s a good cause.”
Second place was awarded a $20 gift card to IHOP. Third place was awarded the cost of their entrance fee.
Mechanical engineering junior Chris Warda, attended the event for the third time this year. Warda said he is astounded every year by the large amount of pancakes that are consumed at one time.
“It can be kind of disgusting,” Warda said. “But it’s cool to see how something disgusting can be turned into something good for other people.”
Kriedberg said 20 percent of the profits from tonight will either be donated to an organization such as Operation Shoebox, which creates custom packages for the U.S. troops, or Phi Kappa Psi will buy products to create their own to send overseas. Donations could also be made directly to the cause during the event.
Despite the weather on Tuesday night, Fabiano said the event was a success, and a crowd of Phi Kappa Psi brothers and MSU students came to support the charity.
“I was actually surprised by how many people came out because of how bad the weather was,” said Fabiano. “I think a lot of them showed up because of the cause we were supporting.”
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