Brooklyn Park Family Turns Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser into Drive-Through Experience

You can call Colby Harrer the ‘flapjack king’ of the northwest suburbs. Harrer, who is going to be a 9th grader at Totino-Grace High School, has staged a benefit pancake event for five years at his family’s house in northern Brooklyn Park.

Harrer would be a perfect fit at IHOP because he loves pancakes. But he also enjoys raising funds for a charitable cause.

“The money that I raise I give it to an organization called BIZAA,” Harrer said. “They use that money to sponsor kids in Nigeria.”

BIZAA is an acronym for Basic Institute for Zonal African Advancement. Harrer is committed to their cause.

“They find kinds in Nigeria that don’t go to school and they just work to make money,” Harrer said. “BIZAA takes those kids and uses money that people give them to send those kids to school.”

This year’s event was staged last week. Harrer raised $2,500 for BIZAA.

Pancakes served up at the Harrer home

Colby Harrer on the Thrill to Give Back

It’s all hands on deck at Colby Harrer’s pancake feast. Family, friends and others pitch in so everything goes smoothly.

 “We had about 20 people volunteering from our neighborhood and church,” Colby said. “I made 500 pancakes.”

Giving back is something that Harrer believes in. His gratitude has had a domino effect on others in his peer group.

“I’ve inspired other families to sponsor kids,” Harrer said. “I have inspired families to sponsor 15 kids altogether. Add that to my five kids I sponsor, 20 kids have been sponsored just because I ran a pancake breakfast.”

For the record, Harrer says he makes some really good chocolate chip pancakes.

But his real motivation for the annual pancake benefit is to do some good for kids in Africa. Harrer’s flapjacks have had a global impact and that makes him happy.

“Yes it does,” Harrer said. “That’s a lot of kids that have gone from the streets into the classrooms.”

Brooklyn Park