Orange County Executive Steven M. Neuhaus will host the seventh Orange County Leadership Prayer Breakfast on October 19 at The Barn at Villa Venezia in Middletown, with Matt Manzari as the keynote speaker

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.

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.”

If you would like to sponsor a table at the breakfast, please visitprayerbreakfastoc.org.

This event is being held at no cost to county taxpayers.