Vets Club breakfasts now a Saturday staple

Three years ago, a group of local veterans traveled to Concordia for an American Legion-sponsored “leadership college” and came back with plans for a breakfast that’s since become a Saturday morning staple in Holton.

Today, more than 120 on average visit the Veterans Club in Holton from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. every Saturday for a veteran-cooked, free-will donation breakfast that’s supervised by a different veterans’ organization each week, according to Pat Fontaine, vice commander of Holton Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1367 and previous commander of Holton American Legion Post 44.

“Now and then, we’ll have folks ask if you have to be a veteran to have breakfast with us,” Fontaine said. “Our breakfasts are open to anybody from anywhere. We’ve had a lot of folks drop by while visiting or hosting visitors, and we’re always happy to meet new friends.”

The idea for the breakfast stems from a June 2022 trip to Concordia for a Legion gathering with the theme of “how to run a Legion post,” said Fontaine, who attended with his wife Nancy, Sharon Spiker, Ben Hall and Linda Carroll.

“We’re sitting around a table one morning, and we were trying to come up with a meaningful fund-raiser that might resonate with the community,” Fontaine said. “At that point, our only fund-raiser was our annual gun show, the first weekend in January.”

Holton’s only breakfast options at that time were Burger King, Taco Bell and convenience store food, said Fontaine, noting that led to the idea of a free-will donation breakfast. The first Saturday morning breakfast was held on Sept. 3, 2022, when 91 people came to the Veterans Club for their morning meal.

To read the rest of the article, please subscribe to The Holton Recorder.