TORRINGTON – The parish hall at St. Rose Catholic Church in Torrington was awash with savory smells and conversation on Sunday during the annual St. Rose Parish Right to Life Breakfast. 

This is about the 35th year for the event, said Tim Pieper, chairperson for the breakfast. It started shortly after landmark Supreme Court Roe vs. Wade decision that made abortion legal, Pieper said.

“We felt we needed to have some kind of a public awareness of what happened there,” he said. “That’s when abortion started skyrocketing across
the country.”

Proceeds from the event are used to pay for billboards in the area decrying abortion and to help fund programs of the Goshen County Right to Life group.

“They give us a good amount of donations,” said Jan Long, president of the local Right to Life group. “We buy educational materials and give them away.

“That’s our job,” Long said. “To try to educate the community on life issues.”

Proceeds from the breakfast also support a mobile ultrasound van, as well as educational and abstinence programs for middle school and high school students in Goshen County, Pieper said.

This year, the Knights of Columbus served about 160 soufflé breakfasts, netting the group about $1,700 to support its programs. Pieper said this year’s breakfast “went very well.

“We had a lot more questions from people, people spent a lot more time at the display tables,” he said. “People are always appreciative that we help bring awareness and they can help spread the word as well. And, of course, they love the food.” 

Pieper is particularly proud of the success of the breakfast. The main course is, after all, from a not-so-old family recipe.

“I think it was a recipe my wife started, actually, shortly after we were married,” he said. “It’s really easy. You put it together the night before and just throw it in the oven in the morning. 

“It’s good when you have a lot of family around,” Pieper said. “I think the title is egg sausage soufflé, then we’ve altered the recipe a bit” for the Knights of Columbus breakfasts.

He adapted the recipe when he first chaired the breakfasts, something he’s been doing since the inception of the fundraiser.

“When I decided to chair the breakfast, I wanted to do an old family recipe,” Pieper said. “We wanted to do something classy for the folks. People always enjoy the recipe, so we just always ended up having the same thing.”

Both Long and Pieper said the partnership between the Knights of Columbus and Goshen County Right to Life has been productive over the years.

The Right to Life group does “a lot of good things with the money,” Pieper said. “Most of its just to bring around awareness of the importance of the sanctity of life.”

Long agreed, noting “the partnership is working really well. We have more Protestants coming (to the breakfasts) than there used to be. We put the money to good use.”