The Friendly City Optimist Club has a lot of heart for the students at Empire School.

Thursday morning, the club served up pancakes with strawberries and juice at the school.

“The Optimist Club caters to the club in Moose Jaw,” said the Optimist Club’s Ellen Sjoberg. “All the fundraising we do, all goes to youth in Moose Jaw.”

They do a pair of pancake breakfasts with schools over the course of a year.

“Any leftovers, we leave it here if there’s food for those that don’t come,” she said. “It’s good because it gives a break for the teachers or the people that are making the meals here on a regular basis.”

The Optimists have helped with the playground initiative, including the installation later in the spring at the school, as well as other kids projects.

“They have a riot and they’re all so polite and so thankful,” Sjoberg said as kids walked by with pancakes. “It’s just nice to be able to see them come through ... and for seconds as well. They eat and eat and eat so it’s really good.”

Empire principal Kelly Logan happy with the partnership with the Optimist Club

“The pink week is next week for anti-bullying, so we tied that in with valentines today, and we thought that would be a good way,” Logan said. “We’re going to talk in our assembly today about sense of belonging and friendship and that kind of thing.”