Head Start benefit breakfast Saturday at Applebee's

Go out to breakfast Saturday, and help families of Head Start overcome hurdles to keeping their children in school.

Friends of Head Start is hosting the fundraiser meal — pancakes, sausages, eggs and coffee or juice — at Applebee’s 280 W. Hanley Ave., Coeur d’Alene.

Breakfast will be served from 8-10 a.m.

Tickets will be available for $10 per person at the door.

The breakfast benefit is part of Applebee's restaurants' community service program. Applebee's provides its facilities and food and organizations, Friends of Head Start in this case, provide the labor. Friends of Head Start will add to the fun of the benefit by including gift baskets filled with coffee products, pet supplies and much more. Chances to win the baskets will sell for $1 per ticket, $5 for six tickets or $20 for 25 tickets. Participants can purchase tickets during the breakfast.

Friends of Head Start provides support for Head Start programs in Kootenai, Benewah, Boundary, Bonner and Shoshone counties. Head Start is a school-readiness program that provides education and support for young children and their families. Head Start receives federal funding. Friends of Head Start helps fill the needs that federal funding doesn't cover.

Those needs have included gas so families can drive their children to school; tuition so parents of Head Start children can earn their GEDs; stove repairs so Head Start families can have hot food; travel funds so parents could be with their sick child during heart surgery in Seattle; and much more.

Last year, Head Start served nearly 400 children ages three and four in the five northern counties. Of those children, 21 percent had disabilities, 19 percent were homeless and 14 percent were foster children.