Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday in the church calendar, is traditionally the last day to eat all the flour, eggs and dairy products in your kitchen before the start of Lent which is a time of abstinence and reflection in the 40 days before Easter.

The European custom of making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday was one way to use up these ‘luxury’ items and to indulge for the last time before ‘fasting’ over Lent. It was also known as Fat Tuesday! Now in its twelfth year, Pancake Day, the annual fundraising event for UnitingCare, is flipping to new heights to raise much needed money for UnitingCare services.

UnitingCare Pancake Day is a well supported community event giving local people the chance to give back to their communities. UnitingCare is a national charity and one of the largest community service providers in Australia, assisting over 2 million Australians each year.

Over the last decade, stacks of pancakes have been sold and more than $1.5 million raised for UnitingCare services.

This year UnitingCare held a large Pancake Day event at Federation Square, selling thousands of pancakes and raising even more money for UnitingCare programs and services. Members of the public enjoyed a variety of different pancake toppings and participated in pancake games including tossing competitions and pancake limbo to name a few. They also met some Pancake Day friends and ambassadors; Janelle Bloom and Peter Everett from the television show ‘Ready, Steady, Cook’, Dan and Dani contestants from ‘The Block’ and the host for the day Brian Nankervis from ‘Rock Wiz’.

Fed Square was a sea of yellow on Sunday 2nd March and thousands of pancakes were cooked, sold and devoured by most passers-by. Thanks to all who indulged and by doing so contributed to the wonderful work of UnitingCare! And a big thank you to Fed Square for having us!