MOSES LAKE — About 80 people gathered in the dining room at Brookdale Hearthstone Assisted Living Facility early Thursday morning for bacon, eggs and prayer. 

“(We pray) that we may foster a better community here in Moses Lake for us, for our children, our grandchildren and the generations to come,” Mayor Dustin Swartz said. 

Thursday’s was the 30th Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast the Moses Lake Kiwanis has organized, according to Francine Irwin, who led the committee that planned it. The breakfast was canceled last year for lack of a venue the Kiwanis could afford, Irwin said, but Brookdale Hearthstone donated both its dining room and the food. The proceeds from the breakfast will be donated to the Alzheimer’s Association, she said. 

The event began with two Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center Criminal Justice students, Ileana Apolonio and Breanna Quintero, presenting the colors. Volunteer students from the Moses Lake High School Chamber Choir, led by David Holloway, sang the national anthem and followed it up with three more songs.  

Moses Lake Mayor Dustin Swartz and Grant County Commissioner Rob Jones provided both Scripture readings and prayer. State Rep. Alex Ybarra was scheduled to attend, but was unable to make it, so Moses Lake City Council member Joel Graves filled in. 

The prayer for the nation was led by Restore City Church Pastors Mike and Mary Alvarado. Mary Alvarado chose a passage from the Gospel of John, which read in part, “My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay one's life for one's friends.” Mike Alvarado prayed that the United States would be blessed with righteousness and freed of hatred, racism, and drugs.  

The keynote speaker was Malachi Salcido, founder and CEO of the Salcido Group of Companies, an interconnected group of businesses in the construction, engineering, HVAC and electrical fields, among others. Salcido spoke about his early career as an accountant, and then the process, often fraught with risk, of building his businesses from scratch. 

“I’m screwed up,” Salcido said. “(Being screwed up) gives you a testimony: whenever you have a victory, that’s a breakthrough. And I’m so screwed up, I’ve got breakthroughs coming out all over the place.” 

Salcido graduated from Wenatchee High School, he said, just barely. 

“When I was in high school, I was not singing in the choir,” he said. “They were just trying to get me to stay long enough that they could hand me a diploma so they didn’t have to deal with me anymore.” 

At Wenatchee Valley College, Salcido said, he rediscovered his faith and also met his wife of 30 years, who was from Moses Lake. Early in their marriage, the two of them were working full-time and barely making it, he said. 

“Never did we dream we would end up going from dual income, just trying to make it in an apartment to overseeing a large company,” he said. “How did that happen? Well, God has a sense of humor. (The Bible) says he uses the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. And I really resonate with that scripture because it's like, ‘Oh, I’m who you're talking about.” 

Building his businesses was a 25-year roller coaster, Salcido said, with opportunities like the advent of data centers and cryptocurrency, and lows like the recession of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the business cycle and raising four children, Salcido said, he credited coming through it to divine guidance. 

“The story of our family is a story … of hope,” he said. “It's a story of light overcoming the darkness. If you're like me, you're tempted to think your community is going to hell in a handbasket. … And my story is a living testimony that is not true.” 

    Moses Lake Mayor Dustin Swartz reads from the Book of Jeremiah at the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast Thursday morning.
  

    Students from the Moses Lake High School Chamber Choir, led by David Holloway, sing the National Anthem at the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast Thursday morning.
  

    Keynote speaker Malachi Salcido speaks about divine guidance through life’s ups and downs at the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast Thursday.
  

    Pastors Mary, left, and Mike Alvarado of Restore City Church read from the Bible and pray for the nation at the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast Thursday.