Here's a friendly reminder about the first of several upcoming free food opportunities:

Starting at 7 a.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, Feb. 28, IHOP is celebrating National Pancake Day with a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes for every customer.

In return, customers are asked to consider making a donation to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and other designated local charities.

The giveaway runs through 10 p.m. That's 15 hours of free pancakes.

IHOP restaurants across the country will be participating. Click here to find a nearby location.

If you're registered for my coupon class tomorrow, here are a few reminders:

Bring a donation of canned or dried food donation for the Food Bank
of Central and Eastern North Carolina. It will get you a second ticket in our drawing for door prizes, which, I must say, are pretty nice. Gift cards and movie passes are among the items up for grabs.

Bring your extra clipped coupons in an envelope. I'll answer questions and we'll swap coupons.

If you need any coupon organizer supplies, the folks from CouponOrganizerPro.com will be on hand, selling everything from fully loaded coupon binders to sets of extra pages. Cash and checks only.

Check your in-box for an email giving you all the details on parking, check in and breakfast.

Class will start promptly at 9. We've got a lot of ground to cover. See you then.

For those of you in the market for a new winter coat this year, here's an opportunity to get a discount and do a good deed at the same time.

Lots of CVS shoppers are reporting that the drugstore's coupon machine is printing out a $2/2 coupon on shampoo, conditioner and styling products this week.

There are lots of possibilities for this coupon. Since it's a store coupon, you can stack it with two manufacturer's coupons to make yourself a better deal on a favorite brand.

If you're interested in scoring a couple of freebies, check the travel section for trial size shampoo or conditioner.

Or you can pick up two full-size bottles of VO5, which is on sale this week for 82 cents each.

Even if you don't care for VO5 products, consider purchasing it for donation to your favorite charity.

Here's an opportunity to do a good deed and get a good deal at the same time.

All this month, Lynn's and Daphne's Hallmark stores in the Triangle are collecting donations to send recordable storybooks to soldiers serving in Afghanistan who won't be home to celebrate the holidays with their kids.

The Upper Room Christian Academy Annual Fund Tournament will be held at 8:30 a.m. June 4 at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course on N.C. State's Centennial Campus in Raleigh.

The entry fee is $85. Contact John Amanchukwu at 919-829-6199, or visit www.urcafund.org.

*** Find more golf tournaments and other charity events, plus summer camps and leagues, in the expanded online edition of the Play! Recreational Sports Calendar. ***

Put your competitive spirit and need for speed to work on May 20.

That's the day Rush Hour Karting in Garner will conduct a fundraising event to support American Red Cross relief efforts in the wake of the April 16 tornado outbreak across North Carolina.

Have fun and support a great cause tonight by heading to AMF Capital Lanes in Raleigh.

From 6:30 to 9 p.m., the nonprofit Raleigh Jaycees Community Impact Fund will conduct the sixth annual Bowl-A-Thon to raise money for the Wake County 4-H Camp Scholarship Program. Bowlers and spectators are welcome.

David Hoke of Jamestown won a playoff against Andrew Furr of Clayton to take first place in the boys 16-18 division at the 21st annual Jack Ratz Jr. Memorial Golf Tournament on Aug. 9 at the Wildwood Green Golf Club in North Raleigh.

Each year, the tournament produces a $1,000 donation to the Cardinal Gibbons High School Scholarship Fund in honor of the winners and in memory of Ratz, who was a club member and a Gibbons freshman when he died in a 1988 car accident at age 15.