Pay It Forward holds annual Christmas Breakfast in Eau Claire

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) - One Eau Claire group held its annual Christmas Breakfast at the Community Table Christmas morning.

Pay It Forward served the breakfast classics, cooking up some eggs, pancakes, sausage and ham. Also serving orange juice, coffee and vanilla custard donated by Culver’s

The annual tradition started back in 1999 when an Eau Claire couple found out there was no such event for the community on Christmas. So with the help of a local Harvey Motorcyclist group, they worked to cook up the meal and feed hundreds of community members for free.

Eventually the couple left and the group they started expanded to a dozen volunteers, with the help of staff from Community Table from time to time.

Pay It Forward only holds this event, using the rest of the year to meet up occasionally to plan for it.

This year is the first time they have offered a dine-in option since the Coronavirus pandemic began, the last two years only offering meals to-go.

The volunteers said they are happy to keep the tradition going.

“It’s really heart warming to help others,” said Caddy Berman.

“We might as well serve the community,” said Sherry Hayes.

“Yup, that’s how I feel to. It’s fun serving the community,” Susan Schaffer.

“When you’ve done it for 25 years its just part of the morning,” Chuck Hayes.

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