By EMILY SPARACINO / Staff Writer

CHELSEA – The smell of pancakes, maple syrup and coffee filled Applebee’s in Chelsea during the Chelsea Business Alliance’s second Flapjack Fundraiser on the morning of Nov. 14.

From 8-10 a.m., dozens of residents came by the restaurant for a pancake breakfast supporting the CBA Scholarship Fund and Chelsea High School’s Peer Helpers program.

CBA Executive Director Je Anne Smith said despite the event happening during football season, more than 500 tickets were sold with walk-ins the day of the event.

“We had a lot of walk-in traffic today,” Smith said. “It’s still been a great fundraising opportunity for the Peer Helpers group. They are such a worthwhile organization.”

Nearly 16 students in the Peer Helpers group waited on customers and helped out in the kitchen.

Jake McConnell, a junior and Peer Helper at CHHS, worked behind the scenes at the fundraiser washing dishes.

“He loves anything to do with the community, so he was very excited,” McConnell’s mother, Natalie Harrington, said of McConnell.

This is McConnell’s first year as a Peer Helper, she said.

“We’re so proud of our Peer Helper,” McConnell’s grandmother, Rosemarie Gibson, said. “He always does it with a joyful heart.”

The event marked the CBA’s first fall Flapjack Fundraiser. The next one is planned for Feb. 13, 2016.

Pulmonary Associates sponsored the Nov. 14 event. This year, the CBA voted to split funds collected from the morning between the scholarship (which goes to a CHHS student in the Future Business Leaders of America group) and the school to use at its discretion.

Smith said proceeds from the Feb. 13 event will go directly to the scholarship fund.