This year’s Kiwanis Pancake Festival, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 15, will benefit the Kiwanis Miracle League, a program that enables children with special needs to play baseball.

Kiwanis members will serve an all-you-care-to-eat menu of pancakes, sausage and a beverage for $5 for adults; children under 5 eat for free.

The Miracle League field, located at 529 S.W. Fifth St. adjacent to Principal Park, opened for its first game in May 2009. The Kiwanis Club of Des Moines and the 2008 Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute class led the project to construct the facility.

All proceeds from the fund-raiser will go toward operating costs of the program, which are approximately $38,000 per year, said Jan Burch, president of the Kiwanis Miracle League’s board of directors. The organization charges nothing for a child to play baseball.

The breakfast will be held from 7 a.m. to noon at the Iowa State Fairgrounds Elwell Family Food Center.