MYSTERY BREAKFAST FOLLOW-UP

This year's Mystery Breakfast event was a great success, with almost 600 attendees.  Among those in attendance was Scarlett Syse, Editor of the Daily Journal (located in Franklin, IN).

Scarlett wrote an article about the Mystery Breakfast, which appeared in the Daily Journal on October 30, 2009, and we wanted to include it as our follow-up for this year's Mystery Breakfast:

OCTOBER 30, 2009  -   I should have known to bring a hankie or two or three.

Back in 2003, I attended one of the Habitat for Humanity home dedications in Franklin. Lori Black was moving into a one-story home on Johnson Avenue.

The ceremonies where families are officially given keys to a modest, decent and affordable home are terribly moving.

A family is overflowing with gratitude, ready for a fresh start in a new home and often at a loss for how to express their deep and heartfelt appreciation. Words never seem like enough.

The volunteers who helped built the house are beaming with pride, experiencing the sheer joy that comes with giving. They either know or come to realize during weeks of pounding nails and hanging drywall that it is in giving that they truly receive. You go into projects like this thinking you'll lift someone up, but, in the end, they lift you up even more.

Similar feelings and emotions were close to the surface Thursday at the annual Habitat for Humanity of Johnson County breakfast.
If you are familiar with Habitat for Humanity, you know it is not a giveaway program.

In addition to making a down payment and monthly mortgage payments, homeowners invest hundreds of hours of their own labor into building their house and attend classes on money management and other topics.

Giving is powerful stuff, and you could feel it in the large multipurpose room at The Gathering Place in Greenwood.

First there was a tribute to Al Pfeiffer, who was named Habitat volunteer of the year. He died in August, but was honored for his years of generous efforts to boost Habitat and build homes for needy families. Fittingly, the touching photo memorial set to music included him kissing a rainbow trout to help raise money for the cause.

Then there was Rachael Goodwin,m the single mother of two who moved into a Habitat home in Edinburgh.

She talked about the challenge of trying to raise her children and giving them a good life in a tiny apartment. Struggling financially and emotionally, she read about Habitat and filled out an application.

Habitat put its hand out, and "with honor we accepted," she said.

But the embrace of Habitat went way beyond the building of home.

Shortly after the Goodwins moved to their new home on South Main Street, they got crushing news. Rachael's 9-year-old daughter, Marleah, was diagnosed with bone cancer.

Habitat was the first to offer support which allowed the Goodwins "to stay in our home while we faced the battle of our lives," Rachael said.

Habitat volunteers were there with gas cards, offers to mow the lawn and an outpouring of support, she said.

"They built a wall of prayer around us," she said.

As a result, the Goodwins are a stronger family and better people, she said.

Marleah has finished chemotherapy and radiation, and was proudly at her mom's side at the breakfast.

"They gave us friendship and love," Rachael said, "and forever changed our lives."