That day, Rebecca Langdon took the last photo of her husband. A heart attack changed all of the Langdon family’s plans.

“All I could think of was, ‘What am I going to do now?’” Rebecca Langdon said, through tears, beside her three children, Jakob, 12, Joshua, 11, and Jordan, 9.

The loss of her husband led the Langdon family to Ele’s Place, 1145 W. Oakland Ave., in Lansing, in 2010, a facility where children undergoing the death of a loved one can go to for support from others who understand the grieving process.

“(Ele’s Place) helped me open my heart to other people and realize that my dad is always with me,” Joshua Langdon said.

The Langdon family shared their story and experiences in front of about 350 people at the 18th annual Fall Reception to benefit Ele’s Place on Thursday evening.

Proceeds from the $100-per-person reservations went to Ele’s Place, and attendees included MSU head basketball coach Tom Izzo, who spoke at the event.

Izzo said applauds the Langdon family for being able to share their story and the many Ele’s Place volunteers who are able to help others through the grieving process — something he said he has yet to experience firsthand.

“Sometimes, they talk to me about being a role model or your players being heroes, and then you come to an event like this and you find out (who) the real heroes in life (are),” Izzo said during his speech at Thursday’s event.

Izzo said he would leave the event a better person after hearing the words of the Langdon family.

Stephanie Bock, advertising senior and intern volunteer at Ele’s Place, said watching the children being helped at Ele’s Place is very rewarding and “worth it.”

Laurie Baumer, president and CEO of Ele’s Place, said the fundraiser was a good way of getting the word out about Ele’s Place.

“It astounds me how many people have not heard of Ele’s Place after 21 years in the community,” Baumer said. “Events like these are very important to Ele’s Place and in terms of referrals to our program as well as volunteers.”

Rebecca Langdon said she was nervous about speaking, but Ele’s Place helped her and her children so much, she couldn’t say no.

“It’s great, and I think (my children) all learned that not only can Ele’s Place help us, but they’ve all learned to help people on the other side of that,” Rebecca Langdon said.