What Do Pancakes and The Environment Have In Common?

Ask any seventh grade student at Kawameeh Middle School and he or she will tell you that they are both themes in the novel Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen.
The novel, which is about an endeavor to save the environment from a greedy pancake chain restaurant, served as the perfect opportunity to challenge the students to take a stand themselves.
After reading the book, Language Arts teachers proposed a deal to their students: raise enough funds to contribute to a worthy cause for the environment, and be rewarded with a pancake breakfast! Students eagerly accepted the task and decided that their donations should go to the Nature Conservancy. As the donation money poured in, a question emerged—where to get enough pancakes to feed over two hundred and fifty children? The answer to this came from a generous manager at the IHOP of Union (Route 22). After hearing about the project, the restaurant jumped on board to support not only the environmental cause, but also the students of Kawameeh Middle School. IHOP provided five hundred pancakes, butter, and syrup for the students to enjoy as a result of their efforts in raising almost two hundred dollars for the Nature Conservancy.