Nothing breaks down the hard walls we’ve built up during this pandemic quite like soft, buttery pancakes. Curtis Kimball had been feeling one of COVID-19’s more insidious symptoms: loneliness. Friends had moved away and no new connections were presenting themselves. But still, the craving for connection continued.
Curtis Kimball, 43, tried to bring his neighborhood together by preparing and giving away over a hundred free pancakes after his wife advised him to make some new friends.
Kimball, who has lived in the neighborhood with his wife and two daughters for approximately a year, told The Washington Post that his family thought the idea was absurd.
“Everybody in my life thought I was insane,” he said. “It’s a pretty vulnerable feeling to do something that outlandish in public.”
Kimball explained the reason behind the pancake party: “Even if you don’t like to eat pancakes, you just like the idea of them. Being around pancakes feels good, even if you’re not eating them yourself.”
To spread the word about his planned pancake party, Kimball made some funny fliers and put them up on local telephone poles.
“My wife says I’m getting weird,” they read. “She says I need to make friends. So I’m making pancakes. Come by and say hi and have some pancakes with me.”
Kimball was concerned that no one would show up despite his humorous advertisements. He didn’t have to worry, though, because about 100 neighbors showed up for a pancake party on his front driveway.
The pancakes were so popular that Kimball hosted another get-together a month later, on February 12. With over 300 people showing up to chat and eat, the second was even more successful than the first.
While everyone appreciated Kimball’s cuisine, the father of two suspected that people came for more than just the food and that it was the social connection that kept them coming back.
“It was the best vibe I had felt in a long time. It was really refreshing to see people smiling and enjoying themselves,” he said. “We’ve got to celebrate each other as people a lot more.”
He’s even set up a GoFundMe so he can continue to throw bigger and better pancake parties – where he’s already raised a whopping $1,400.
Meanwhile, Kimball hopes that by setting an example, others across the country will be inspired to host their own community gatherings. His dream is to have “a national neighborhood pancake day and have everyone do it on the same day and same time and carb up the whole country.”
“How awesome would that be?” he says.
Source: vt.co
