By By BEN RAYMOND LODE / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- A solid pancake and sausage Easter breakfast at the Eagles Lodge in Niles fueled some of this year's many Easter Egg Hunt participants at the Riverfront Park Saturday.
The breakfast and egg hunt, hosted by the Berrien County Civitan and Downtown Merchants, was held for the third straight year.
Before the hunt, the Eagles Lodge was filled with breakfast hungry egg hunters.
A white Easter bunny wandered around in the lodge and gave away chocolate to the children.
Matt Jones, who attended the breakfast with his wife and their 20 month old son, and his grandmother, said it was the family's first time attending both the breakfast and egg hunt.
Jones said the event is a good initiative, not just for children, but for parents also.
Jones, however, wasn't the only one who thought the Easter Breakfast and Egg Hunt is a good idea.
Kelly Courtney said she came to Saturday's breakfast because her son wanted to participate in the egg hunt.
Courtney also brought along her friend, Linda Sadler, who agreed that the event is wonderful.
Without volunteers, however, it would have been hard to organize an event the size of the Easter Breakfast.
Among the many volunteers at the Eagles Lodge Saturday was Ring Lardner Middle School student, Jesse Gouldman.
Gouldman, a three-time Easter Breakfast volunteer veteran, said he helps out because many of his friends do the same thing.
And when the breakfast was done at 11:00 a.m., Gouldman still had two hours of cleaning up before he could call it a day.
Nancy Reeve and Mickey Hutchison from the Berrien County Civitan, said it seems like the breakfast and egg hunt event is growing each year.
Reeve said this year's event was also well advertised with 3500 flyers distributed to schools in Niles and Buchanan.
She said the downtown merchants, as usual, donated prices and money for the egg hunt.
All Breakfast proceeds, Reeve said, goes to Civitan club sponsored events, such as Camp Civita.
Camp Civita is a camp for mentally and physically challenged people, which this year will be held at Camp Rosenthal in Dowagiac, she said.
Luci Vales, Eagles Club manager and among the many Eagles responsible for cooking breakfast, said pancake flour and some sausages were donated towards this year's breakfast.
And Vales is more than glad to help out, especially when children are involved.