This Sunday, Tom Moak will celebrate is 84th birthday.

On Tuesday, he helped the Brookhaven Kiwanis Club hold its 55thannual Pancake and Sausage Day benefit. To the best of his memory,Moak has worked every one.

“Somebody had heard that this (Pancake breakfasts benefits)worked somewhere,” Moak said about how the event began many yearsago.

The Kiwanis Club “decided we could do it ourselves” after thefirst year, when it was operated by contract. The subcontractor andthe club split the proceeds.

Throughout Moak’s tenure with the club, he has seen severalchanges. Moak, who has held the offices of president and lieutenantgovernor for the Kiwanis Club, recounted some interestinghistorical highlights in the benefit’s history.

In their first year, club members received celebrity assistancefrom Aunt Jemima, of pancake syrup fame. For another benefit, clubmembers bought several hogs, butchered them and served homemadesausage.

Although the event has been housed in five different venues, theState Bank has sponsored the event for years. The event iscurrently held in the State Room on Cherokee Street inBrookhaven.

The annual Kiwanis Club Pancake and Sausage Day has come a longway since the days of Aunt Jemima and homemade sausage.

Today, the event is the club’s most lucrative fund-raiser. Thisyear the club sold more than 1,000 tickets .

Most of the proceeds will go toward scholarships in keeping withthe service organization’s emphasis on youth enrichment, Moak said.He noted that the benefit nearly runs itself now due to the “greatcommunity support” and participation of many local businesses.

Moak said the benefit is always successful, in part becausetickets are sold before the event takes place. Although the serviceprojects are gratifying, Moak most enjoys the comraderie andfellowship the members share.