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Fatz pancake breakfast fundraiser will benefit foster children, families

Photo contributed

Phyllis Durham, left, a Lifegains foster parent, holds Jeremiah while he high fives his uncle Jerry Evans. Durham fostered and eventually adopted Jeremiah. Foster parents and children will benefit from a pancake breakfast at Fatz Cafe on Saturday.

Staff Reports

The News Herald

Published: August 13, 2009

Brian Miller, the operating partner of Fatz Café in Morganton has been holding a series of pancake breakfast fundraisers for local nonprofits affected by the recession, will host a fundraiser for Lifegains from 7 to 10 a.m. Saturday.

Lifegains is a local nonprofit that assists foster children and parents.

Tickets are $7 and include a stack of pancakes, sausage or bacon and a beverage.

Children age 3 and younger get in free with a paid adult.

Tickets will be available at the door or can be purchased in advance from Lifegains at 433-0233.

All proceeds, including tips, will go to Lifegains.

Other local businesses selling tickets and supporting this effort include Reynolds Family Wellness Center in Valdese, Animal Hospital of East Burke, Bank of Granite in Morganton and A Kut Above in Morganton.

The Freedom High School German American Partnership Program is partnering in this event.

Local foster parents take in children — from sick babies to teens who have been told their parents don't want them anymore — but legislative changes enacted in January 2009 and pressures from the ongoing recession have made the job of being a foster parent more challenging.

Regional program coordinator Maurice Beam recalls the satisfaction of once being able to purchase two children their first bicycles and being able to assist foster parents with funds that enabled them to take a young boy on his first trip to the beach.

These supports have become impossible for the agency to provide in the current economic climate.

Lifegains Family Foster Care, like other private not-for-profit agencies, has seen its budget cut by 40 to 50 percent this past year, which has impacted the provision of many supplies and services for the agency's foster children, such as clothing needed for those placed on an emergency basis, sports equipment that enables the children to participate in team sports and summer camp tuition.