HAUSER LAKE — For more than 20 years, Shalena Mobbs’ name has lived in the impulse to help others, though she died of cancer at age 3.

The line of people snaking out the Hauser Lake Fire Department door and down the street on Sunday for the 21st Shalena’s Breakfast with Santa breathed the memory of the little girl.

The tradition established in her name brings joy to the community, allows people who aren’t wealthy to give to people who are sick, and has raised tens of thousands of dollars over the years to benefit children with cancer and other diseases.

“It’s bittersweet. Some years I have a very difficult time with it, emotionally” said Shalena’s father, Hauser Lake Fire Capt. Gary Mobbs.

“Her name lives on with this breakfast. It’s truly known across the Northwest.”

This year’s breakfast raised money for 16-year-old Post Falls High School senior Juan Hernandez, diagnosed with the autoimmune disease lupus, which runs in his family.

“Twenty-one years, it’s a long time. It’s a lot of families we helped,” Mobbs said.

Photo by Lucy Dukes of the Coeur d’Alene Press. Caption: Vickie Locken serves gravy to Heather Winters, of Post Falls, during Shalena’s Breakfast with Santa on Sunday.

By 10 a.m., 690 people had eaten and hundreds more were pouring into the Hauser Lake Fire Hall. Last year, 1,150 people came.

It’s a popular event, said Mobbs, because it helps others, and at $3 a person and $10 a family for "all you can eat," it’s an affordable way to have fun and help people who need it. They come also because the breakfast has become a tradition.

At any given time, the breakfast crew comprised 40 volunteers, including Hauser Lake Ranchers 4-Hers.

The event takes 600 man hours, said Mobbs. Multiple business donate food, but the department also spends money.

While the breakfast has grown year after year, the community support has not changed, nor has the sausage.

Since it began, the sausage spice has come from Germany, where the family of one of the fire district’s retired firefighters lives and owns a butcher shop.

“Their food has always been really good,” said Carrie Aragon, who came to support the local event because she thinks the cause is a good one.

Many come to the breakfast year after year.

“It’s fun, it’s a good community event,” explained Hal Hanson, of Hauser, who came with his 4-year-old granddaughter.

Pauline Hall came with a family group of six. She wanted to share the event with her family because the food is good and the breakfast is fun, as well as to support Hauser Lake Fire undertakings.

“My husband and I lived in Hauser for many years, and we came every year,” said Hall, who now lives in Post Falls.

Photo by Lucy Dukes of the Coeur d’Alene Press. Caption: Hauser Lake Fire District engineer Dan Meek pours pancake batter on the grill for Shalena’s Breakfast with Santa on Sunday.

“Everybody knows about it and they end up telling people about it,” said Torri McKee, whose husband used to be a volunteer firefighter with the district.

Mechelle Dutton’s Hauser family has attended the breakfast every year mostly because it’s for a good cause, but also because the family loves the sausages.

Her daughter, Nicole Dutton, has been to the breakfast every one of her 10 years.

“By October, she’s saying, ‘When’s Santa’s Breakfast?’” said Mechelle Dutton.

Return to top