Fresno church's pancake breakfast honors educator by helping homeless children

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Breakfast turned into a mission to help homeless children at Hope Lutheran Church Saturday morning.

Two sisters served up pancakes to dozens of people for the 17th annual Matthew Mueller Pancake Breakfast fundraiser.

Mueller was a principal in Sanger who died suddenly in 2000 at the age of 38. People at Hope Lutheran Church encouraged his sisters to start the pancake breakfast as a way to honor him.

"This is just a good thing because it really gives back to those kids he had those special bonds with -- the ones that struggled, the ones who had issues. He just really had a knack with them," said Paula Jordan, Mueller's sister.

So far, organizers have collected tens of thousands of dollars over the years to support Project Access. The money goes to help Fresno Unified kids who are homeless purchase books and school supplies.