ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, October 19, 1996             TAG: 9610210037
SECTION: CURRENT                  PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
COLUMN: applause
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY 

TOWNSIDE FLIPS FOR MDA

How much pancake batter does it take to feed about 500 civic-minded people at an outdoor fund-raiser?

The people at Townside Inc. Realtors in Blacksburg know the answer: 102 pounds of dry mix.

Throw in seven gallons of syrup, 20 gallons each of orange juice and coffee, an untold number of sausages, enough folks to fill up a parking lot, and warm and dry weather, and you've got the fixings for yet another successful pancake breakfast to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Townside raised $5,400 for MDA, the second consecutive year the firm has contributed more than $5,000 to the association, which fights more than 40 neuromuscular diseases. Townside has sponsored the fund-raisers for 10 years, seeing steadily increasing crowds and community support, and notably, no rain, said Pam Crow, marketing coordinator for the company. Many local businesses donated food and supplies, requiring Townside to spend only about $500 for the recent event.

Townside employees cooked two to three pancakes per person and began preparations at 4:30 a.m. "We get real good at slingin' 'em," Crow said.

"It's so much fun to get up that early in the morning," she said, with a touch of irony in her voice. Then, more seriously: "We only deal with that one day a year, but people with muscular diseases deal with them every day."

LENGTH: Short :   39 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  Pancake lovers line up to help the Muscular Dystrophy 
          Association. Townside, which has been doing the fund-raisers for 10 
          years, raised $5,400 for MDA, the second consecutive year the firm 
          has contributed more than $5,000 to the association.