MONROE - Even after officially retiring from Green County's annual Breakfast on the Farm, Evelyn Tschanz just can't stay away.
After nearly three decades of being involved in the popular event, the 77-year-old still donates her time making cheese trays and helping in other ways.
To honor Tschanz for 28 years of volunteering for the breakfasts, members of the Green County Ag Chest presented her with a glider porch swing last week.
"The glider is a token of appreciation from the Green County Ag Chest for all she has done," said Craig Kamholz, Ag Chest president. "As a thank you, it is simply not enough."
Kamholz, along with Shelly Baum, who is theMonroe branch manager for Sugar River Bank, have taken on the role of handling food and donations that were Tschanz's specialty each year.
Tschanz retired after 2010's breakfast, held on Allen and Lavonne DeVoe's farm. This year's Breakfast on the Farm will be hosted by Neal and Lisa Boeke, N320 Mill Road, Juda.
Over the years, Tschanz kept hand-written notes for presentations she does for various groups within the county. And in those notes, she explains how she started volunteering in 1982, along with her husband, Joe.
Tschanz and her husband were not members of the Ag Chest at the time when they were contacted, said Tschanz.
"They called to see if we would help with food and donations," said Tschanz. "We always enjoyed helping people. Once we got started, we kept going."
Tschanz has fond memories of the challenges faced by volunteers at each farm breakfast.
In 1991, Tschanz remembers receiving frozen orange juice the Friday before the breakfast, and it was still frozen the next morning, causing breakfast goers to be served orange slushies. In 2003, a water heater caught fire on the Albright Family Farm.
But those issues are rare, given the amount of work that goes in to planning the event, and the fact that organizers say they learn something new each year.
The cooking, for example, is now done with gas-powered heat, after the power went out the third year, causing electric machinery to stop working.
While much of the planning starts in January, food donations and preparations are received in the weeks leading up to the event.
Breakfast on the Farm was something Tschanz and her husband shared until his death in 2001.
The couple met in 1953 at the A&W Root Beer stand, where Tschanz worked as a waitress.
"It was love at first sight," said Tschanz, who has spent much of her life on the farm.
Following their marriage in August, 1953, they lived outside of Juda. A few years later, the couple and their children bought a 230-acre farm outside Monroe. They left the farm in 1994 and moved to Monroe, while still continuing to own and operating their farm until Joe's death.
Breakfast on the Farm became a family tradition for the couple and their children. The family has taken trips in their motor home throughout the years just to visit other Breakfast on the Farms in different counties.
"We made a lot of friends over those many, many years," Tschanz said. "We met so many people; you get acquainted with them."
Tschanz likes to stay busy. She started working for Swiss Colony in 1973. After retiring in 2002, she stayed on as seasonal help.
"It gets me out of the house," Tschanz said.
The first Dairy Breakfast was held at the Juda Church in 1961 and continued through 1979 at various schools and churches. Ag Chest members held the first meeting for Breakfast on the Farm planning on November 12, 1979. They hoped to move the breakfasts away from schools and churches to on-the-farm sites, where visitors could experience agriculture first hand.
And it is that hands-on experience Tschanz says is most important.
"The best part of the breakfast for me is to see the excitement of the children and the smiles of the elderly that they have a bus to ride to get there," Tschanz said. "To see city and county people come together."
After nearly three decades of being involved in the popular event, the 77-year-old still donates her time making cheese trays and helping in other ways.
To honor Tschanz for 28 years of volunteering for the breakfasts, members of the Green County Ag Chest presented her with a glider porch swing last week.
"The glider is a token of appreciation from the Green County Ag Chest for all she has done," said Craig Kamholz, Ag Chest president. "As a thank you, it is simply not enough."
Kamholz, along with Shelly Baum, who is theMonroe branch manager for Sugar River Bank, have taken on the role of handling food and donations that were Tschanz's specialty each year.
Tschanz retired after 2010's breakfast, held on Allen and Lavonne DeVoe's farm. This year's Breakfast on the Farm will be hosted by Neal and Lisa Boeke, N320 Mill Road, Juda.
Over the years, Tschanz kept hand-written notes for presentations she does for various groups within the county. And in those notes, she explains how she started volunteering in 1982, along with her husband, Joe.
Tschanz and her husband were not members of the Ag Chest at the time when they were contacted, said Tschanz.
"They called to see if we would help with food and donations," said Tschanz. "We always enjoyed helping people. Once we got started, we kept going."
Tschanz has fond memories of the challenges faced by volunteers at each farm breakfast.
In 1991, Tschanz remembers receiving frozen orange juice the Friday before the breakfast, and it was still frozen the next morning, causing breakfast goers to be served orange slushies. In 2003, a water heater caught fire on the Albright Family Farm.
But those issues are rare, given the amount of work that goes in to planning the event, and the fact that organizers say they learn something new each year.
The cooking, for example, is now done with gas-powered heat, after the power went out the third year, causing electric machinery to stop working.
While much of the planning starts in January, food donations and preparations are received in the weeks leading up to the event.
Breakfast on the Farm was something Tschanz and her husband shared until his death in 2001.
The couple met in 1953 at the A&W Root Beer stand, where Tschanz worked as a waitress.
"It was love at first sight," said Tschanz, who has spent much of her life on the farm.
Following their marriage in August, 1953, they lived outside of Juda. A few years later, the couple and their children bought a 230-acre farm outside Monroe. They left the farm in 1994 and moved to Monroe, while still continuing to own and operating their farm until Joe's death.
Breakfast on the Farm became a family tradition for the couple and their children. The family has taken trips in their motor home throughout the years just to visit other Breakfast on the Farms in different counties.
"We made a lot of friends over those many, many years," Tschanz said. "We met so many people; you get acquainted with them."
Tschanz likes to stay busy. She started working for Swiss Colony in 1973. After retiring in 2002, she stayed on as seasonal help.
"It gets me out of the house," Tschanz said.
The first Dairy Breakfast was held at the Juda Church in 1961 and continued through 1979 at various schools and churches. Ag Chest members held the first meeting for Breakfast on the Farm planning on November 12, 1979. They hoped to move the breakfasts away from schools and churches to on-the-farm sites, where visitors could experience agriculture first hand.
And it is that hands-on experience Tschanz says is most important.
"The best part of the breakfast for me is to see the excitement of the children and the smiles of the elderly that they have a bus to ride to get there," Tschanz said. "To see city and county people come together."