 The entire day's agenda revolved around buckets of whole-hog
sausage that would come in the back door at intervals throughout the
day. The sausage stuffing event was about to begin.
Since 1977 the Zion Lutheran congregation has served an annual
pancake and sausage breakfast to support its school. It started when
the school was still in the church building near downtown and
continued after the new school was built on the west side of
Lincoln.
Wednesday's activity actually began in Atlanta on Tuesday. Five
local farmers donated 15 hogs for the sausage and delivered them to
the Atlanta Locker.
"The locker butchered the hogs yesterday (Tuesday) and began to
process the meat this morning (Wednesday). That's about as fresh as
you can get," said volunteer coordinator Mark Hunsley.
"There will be 65 5-gallon buckets of ground sausage come in here
as they process it during the day," Hunsley explained. "We have
about three volunteers up there, too, assisting the locker staff and
bringing the buckets down here as they're ready."
A few minutes later a pickup truck backed up to the rear door of
the school's kitchen, and several buckets were unloaded and carried
inside. Everyone stepped into position and sausage stuffing was
under way.
"The hogs will provide about 4,000 pounds dressed weight,"
Hunsley said. "We'll be able to serve about 1,400 people on
Saturday. That's the standard number every year, and we have it down
to a science.
"The locker freezes a portion of the meat so we can sell it
Saturday in bulk packages, and we'll run out of that about noon," he
continued. "But we'll have enough links and pancakes to serve meals
until 1 o'clock. That's how it works every year, and we don't try to
change the formula."
Zion Lutheran School students bring their lunches on sausage
stuffing day and eat in their classrooms. The cafeteria is
off-limits to anything but the sausage stuffing project.
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In the kitchen, three cast-iron presses forced the ground meat
into linings to form sausage ropes. It took a team of three people
to crank the press, guide the meat into the lining and coil the
sausage rope on the table until it was completely filled.
After the long ropes of sausage were ready, they were taken into
the cafeteria, where another team cut the rope into links and bagged
them. A second group bagged bulk sausage.
Almost 30 volunteers worked on Wednesday, either at the school or
at the locker in Atlanta. More volunteers (and some of the same
individuals) will arrive at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday to set up, cook
sausage, sell tickets, wash dishes, deliver carryouts, man the
pancake grill and clean up.
The majority of the volunteers are members of Zion Lutheran
Church, but some are just community members who want to help out.
It takes an entire community to support its schools. Mark Hunsley
said that the town has always been very supportive of Zion Lutheran
by attending the annual pancake and sausage breakfast. He expects
this year will prove to be another successful event.
Zion's pancake and sausage breakfast will be served at the
school, 1600 Woodlawn Road, Lincoln, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. this
Saturday, Feb. 4.
[By MARLA BLAIR]
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