The Manteca-Lathrop MOMS Club is coming to the aid of the children of the Agape Villages Foster Family of Manteca.

In its first major fund-raising event, the group is holding a flapjack breakfast at Applebee’s in Manteca located on East Yosemite Avenue in the Spreckels business center. Called Breakfast for a Brighter Future, the event will benefit the Manteca Agape Villages Foster Children.

“Our goal is to purchase gift cards for all the children in their care,” said Amy Hartt, the president of the local chapter of MOMS. The Manteca chapter has approximately 70 children in their care.

The breakfast will be held Saturday, May 18, from 8 to 10 a.m. Tickets are $5 apiece. Along with the breakfast will be several theme baskets that will be raffled off that morning for $1 a ticket or six tickets for $5.  Those who will bring an unopened bag of socks or underwear for children from infant to teens will receive five complimentary raffle tickets.

Hartt said the money raised will be used to purchase $20 gift certificates at the local Target store.

“These cards will be given to children as they are placed in new (foster) homes,” she said.

The MOMS Club of Manteca, a non-profit organization which is a support and outreach group for stay-at-home moms, adopts a service project each year, Hatt explained.

Last year, for example, they raised money by holding garage sales and donated all proceeds to Pets & Pals in Lathrop. They have also held a canned-goods drive which they gave to Second Harvest Food Bank in Manteca, along with a cash donation. Another year, in a stuff-the-bus project, MOMS donated more than 20 backpacks filled with school supplies to the Manteca Unified School District’s homeless student as well as other children in need.

Hartt said they will accept any additional donations given at the breakfast fund-raiser. MOMS members, along with volunteers from Agape Villages, will help serve the food.

Hartt said the group chose Agape Foster Home as their service project this year because “there are several moms that want to give back to foster children. Our goal is to give $20 gift cards to go to kids so the foster parents have something to start with whatever the kids need.”

Describing what the MOMS group is all about, Hartt explained, “We’re not just a traditional play group. We’re here to teach our children to give back to the community.”

The members are “moms that are married, singles, or work part-time. We’re offering moms support. We’re just here for one another and for advice and support,” Hartt said.

Tickets to the flapjack breakfast may be purchased at Agape Foster Care office in Manteca at 123 Sycamore Avenue, tel. (209) 824-5365, from Amy Hartt – amyhartt1@me.com – and at the Manteca Convention and Visitors Bureau in the Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley Center, South Union Road south of the Highway 120 Bypass.

For more information about MOMS – both the Manteca chapter and the national organization – visit www.momsclub.org or http://www.mantecamoms.webs.com. Information about Agape Villages is available at http://www.agapevillages.org.

Letters to the MOMS Club of Manteca can be sent to P.O. Box 384, Manteca, CA 95336.