The Kiwanis Club of Ypsilanti will host its annual Pancake Breakfast Saturday at the First United Methodist Church of Ypsilanti, located at 209 Washtenaw Ave., to raise funds for The Eliminate Project campaign.

The fundraiser is part of a global campaign to fight maternal and neonatal tetanus, which is a painful disease that kills one baby every nine minutes or about 160 newborns a day, according to UNICEF.

“We have raised quite a bit of money, but we need to raise more,” Kiwanis Multi-Division Coordinator Jeanette Harris said in a press release. “We are all in the same world; we are all in this together. I see eliminating this disease as social justice.”

MNT is typically contracted through unhygienic childbirth practices, according to UNICEF. The global project is working to eliminate this highly preventable disease by vaccinating women of childbearing age, which also protects their future babies. The cost to immunize one mother is $1.80.

The event will feature celebrity wait staff, including Michigan Congressman John Dingell, D-12th District, and Ypsilanti Mayor Paul Schreiber.

More than 900 people attended last year’s Pancake Breakfast, according to Kiwanis member and Eastern Michigan University senior Paul Martell.

The event runs from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tickets are $7 for adults and $4 for children 10 and under, and may be purchased at the door or in advance online at ypsilantikiwanis.weebly.com. Donations for the cause can also be made online or at the event.

Kiwanis International is working to raise $110 million by 2015 for the project, which the group said will protect at least 61 million women and their future babies who are at risk to MNT.

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