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By Mike Barnhardt
Enterprise Record

PINO – It’s a nice drive down Cana Road or NC 801 early on a Saturday morning.
And when you get to Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church, it gets even nicer.
Inside the fellowship hall – well before the sun comes up – is a group of dedicated volunteers.
You can find Bob Ellis at the back of the kitchen, quietly frying sausage and country ham.
Just around the corner, Christa Douglas is making gravy, and Jesse Gentry is cracking eggs to be scrambled in a big pan.
And don’t forget the biscuits. Dawn Ellis sports an apron to catch some of the flour that inevitably escapes from the countertop.
Inside and outside of the kitchen, Kathy Ellis is busy getting the serving station ready.
It’s a normal third Saturday of the month at the church, when it hosts a community breakfast. Dozens of more volunteers are on hand throughout the day, helping to set up tables, clean up.
But mostly, they make sure folks who walk through the door get a good meal and see friendly, smiling faces.
“On these Saturdays, we’re all here working up a storm for Wesley Chapel,” said Marlene Trivette.
The tradition started in the early 1990s, when members saw it as a way to pay for building a new fellowship hall. The breakfast is now held in that new fellowship hall, and it was paid for before construction was completed in 2001. Now, proceeds go to church projects; last month it was the Knit-A-Square program, a project of the United Women of Faith to send the squares to South Africa to be made into clothes and blankets.
“I’ve come to this church since before I was born,” Kathy Ellis said. “This is a way that we serve the community.”
It must be working.
Diners start arriving as soon as the doors open at 6:30 a.m., peak at about 8 or 9, and keep coming until the last plate is served around 10 a.m.
Larry Hayes is always one of the first in line.
“The country ham and sausage is always delicious,” he said.