Goshen, N.Y. – Orange County Executive Steven M. Neuhaus will host the seventh Orange County Leadership Prayer Breakfast on October 19th at The Barn at Villa Venezia in Middletown. Sponsorships are available for the event and registration will open for attendees in September.
Matt Manzari, at the age of 31, has done and experienced more than many people twice his age. When he was in his mid-teens, Manzari was enjoying a professional wakeskating career and a Nike sponsorship. By his late teens, he had married his high school sweetheart and was feeling a pull to ministry. He was studying Theology and stepping away from his sport when he entered a wakeskating contest just before his final exams to make some extra money. Tragically, Manzari was involved in a near-life-ending accident that left him in a coma with severe injuries over most of his body, but alive.
During his lengthy recovery, he began to notice the miracles that God was creating in his life. Of that time Manzari says, “I learned the power of the God we serve and how much he cares. This prepared me for the storm that was coming…”
A year later, Manzari was trimming trees at a local church when a power line hit the metal bucket in which he was standing. An incredible 14,000 volts shot through his body, causing 4th and 5th degree burns and melting much of the skin off his chest and arms and killing muscle and bone. Once again, he was close to death but felt God kept him alive for a greater purpose. Manzari’s full recovery from a second potentially life-ending accident is nothing short of a miracle and that is not lost on Manzari. “I am looking forward to the opportunity to share my story and my message of hope and faith at this year’s Orange County Leadership Prayer Breakfast. I appreciate the committee inviting me to be their keynote speaker.”
Sharing the dais with Manzari and addressing the breakfast attendees that morning will be other community leaders and the breakfast’s host, County Executive Neuhaus.
“We are grateful to have Matt Manzari as our keynote speaker this year, and I look forward to hearing him speak to us all about faith and perseverance,” Neuhaus said. “His story is incredible and this year’s guests will be inspired by his message of positivity in the face of what seems to be insurmountable odds.”
Table Sponsors of the event will receive five (5) seats at a table for ten (10) at the breakfast for a tax-deductible donation of $350.00. The Orange County Leadership Prayer Breakfast committee will use the remaining five (5) seats at the table to invite elected and appointed Orange County municipal officials, community and business leaders, and the public. If you would like to sponsor a table at the breakfast, please visit www.prayerbreakfastoc.org. You can also send an email requesting a registration form to prayerbreakfastoc@gmail.com, call 845-393-4805, or visit www.facebook.com/ocprayerbreakfast for more information. This event is being held at no cost to county taxpayers.
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