This past Saturday YoungLives held its 7th Annual Pancake Breakfast at Lake Park in Huntington Beach. The clouds covered us, some rain drops spit out at us but it did not deter anyone from coming out to the event. Why? What makes people want to get up out of their cozy beds early on a Saturday morning and head out into the overcast cool morning weather? Devotion does. Devotion to supporting people. One can say “I support this ministry” and that is true, but the ministry is people. The ministry is teen moms, dads and their kids. And so, we all got up early and headed over to the park to do our part in supporting these wonderful people. The regulars came out, neighbors who smelled the cooking walked over and new people arrived to give teen moms the opportunity to go away to camp for an opportunity of a lifetime. Our moms get a chance to be teens for one week and laugh as they play games and do activities, to soak in the beauty of nature, to be waited on and showered with kindness by camp volunteers and to have an opportunity to personally hear about and connect with God away from the busyness of their lives.

Beyond the people who chose to come out and spend $5 on a pancake breakfast and extra money on some crafts and delicious treats, it took another group of devoted people to put this all together. There is the team who arrived there extra early to set up tables, bring all of the cooking supplies and stand there for hours to flip pancakes and sausages. There are the local merchants who start weeks in advance in creating crafts and food to bring to sell that morning and who also sit for hours and take time to talk with others, explain their goods and then choose to donate proceeds to the people of YoungLives.

There are still others who have smaller parts in the morning yet all together it becomes one big fun community event. Year after year the same people and new ones choose to do this out of devotion and care for other people. I personally don’t think this is the “normal” actions of people these days – to do all of these things with no monetary pay attached – and this is one reason why I like serving with the people of YoungLives because they are different as they choose to love and serve others in very unselfish ways and it’s attractive and contagious.

If you missed the Pancake Breakfast, you can still support the moms by donating here.

Lisa Bryan ~ North OC YoungLives Committee