MAIN Holidays & Observances Fat Tuesday National Pancake Day

At IHOP you can 'come hungry, leave happy'
...by helping others on National Pancake Day

Get ready to chow down at this year's annual National Pancake Day sponsored by IHOP with free short stacks given away free to guests in the hope that they will, in turn, help others.

With a goal of raising $1 million in its annual free pancake giveaway, last year IHOP helped top more than $1,300,000 in record-breaking donations for the Children's Miracle Network and other charities.

Visitors gobbled down more than a million pancakes at IHOP's nationwide while they generously helped the cause of supporting those less fortunate than themselves.

In past years, IHOP has held the fundraiser on Fat Tuesday in observance of what is variously known around the world as Pancake Day, Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras. The Tuesday before Lent on the Christian calendar traditionally marks the beginning of fasting before Easter, when milk and egg products were forbidden. To use them up, household cooks made heaping stacks of pancakes!

This year, however, National Pancake is being celebrated a week later, on Tuesday, February 23, 2010 from 7 am to 10 pm, offering a free short stack of their famous buttermilk pancakes to each guest. In exchange for the free flapjacks, IHOP will ask guests to consider making a voluntary contribution to Children's Miracle Network or other local charities.

Since its inaugural National Pancake Day celebration in 2006, IHOP has raised more than $3 million to support national charities as well as good causes in neighborhoods in which it operates.

In 2010, IHOP hopes to reach a milestone by raising a cumulative total of $5 million in five years and has set the 2010 National Pancake Day fundraising goal at $1.75 million.

also see related features -> What is Mardi Gras Celebrating?

Pancakes for Shrove Tuesday | Shrove Tuesday: Pancake Fest

Easter | Ash Wednesday