Groton — A local business owner and a teacher at Robert E. Fitch High School, have organized a pancake breakfast on Sunday to help raise money for a diabetic alert dog for a Fitch High School junior.

Hunter Novak, 16, has type 1 diabetes and is active in school, according to a DonorDrive website set up on his behalf.

He plays trombone in the Fitch Falcons Marching Band, which recently went to the national championship; participates in Falcon Fencing and serves as assistant senior patrol leader for Boy Scouts of America Troop 76 in Mystic, among his activities.

The breakfast for Novak will be held from 8 until 11 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 15, at the Bridge Pizza and Deli, 118 Fort Hill Road, Groton. Tickets are $5 and may be purchased at the door.

The market is donating all of the food, said Liz Porter, a social studies teacher at Fitch High School who taught Novak as a freshman.

Proceeds would go toward buying the dog, which would be trained to alert Novak of high and low blood sugars during the day or night, and if he is sleeping, wake him, a family member or a roommate.

Efforts so far have raised $13,586 of the $25,000 needed for the dog, which would be provided by the nonprofit Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers.

Fundraising began about a year ago and the group has about one more year to raise the total needed, Porter said.

d.straszheim@theday.com

Twitter: @DStraszheim