Breakfast at Fatz to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity house

Fatz Cafe and Aiken County Habitat for Humanity's Women Build program have joined forces for a fundraiser that will bring out the stars - or their impersonators.

The Women Build committee has organized a celebrity waiter breakfast that will take place from 8 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 12 at Fatz Cafe.

The celebrity waitstaff will include Women Build volunteers and local luminaries, such as Carla Cloud of the Aiken Downtown Development Association, Elliott Levy of the Aiken County Historical Museum, Betty Ryberg of the Celebrate Aiken! committee and Andrew Siders of VistaBank.

The celebrities will dress up as other celebrities, such as Sarah Palin, Cinderella's fairy godmother and others.

"We don't usually do breakfast seatings here," said Fatz Cafe operating partner Scott Harrell.

"They're opening up just for us," Women Build committee member Judy Sennett said.

The menu will include pancakes, sausage links, a fruit cup and hot or cold morning beverages. A portion of each ticket's price will go to Women Build, and tipping is encouraged as the waitstaff has pledged 100 percent of its tips to Women Build.

"We're just starting fundraising for the fifth Women Build project; this is the second event we've had after the Art Sale. The goal is to raise $50,000 to get us started. Each Habitat house has a budget of $60,000 to $65,000. We're just hoping to raise as much as possible," said Women Build committee co-chair Linda Purdy.

Tickets are $7 and are available in advance at Fatz Cafe, Nandina Home & Design and at Material Things. Tickets will be sold at the door on June 12 unless the event sells out in advance, according to Purdy.

"We've just started doing these breakfasts this year; we have a server who's been with us since we opened - she's part of our family here - who is battling breast cancer, and we did our first breakfast as a fundraiser for her medical expenses," said Harrell. "We found out what a great time it is at these things, and we raised good money for her. It's a way of giving back to the community and great fun. We've had a 10- to 11-year-old baseball team waiting tables; we had a Relay For Life team do a breakfast. We always make new friends at these."

Contact Suzanne Stone at sstone@aikenstandard.com.