Oswego YMCA Hosts First Mayor Prayer Breakfast

The hosted its first ever Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast on Friday morning with plans to make it an annual event.

“This is a great event for us all to recharge our batteries and hear some testimonies,” said Village President Brian LeClercq. “My hope is you take away and feel good about your community and then get out there and share that feeling.”

The event took place in the YMCA gymnasium, decorated with lilies and flowers from and serving a catered breakfast for attendees. Previously the Oswego YMCA had done a similar event for Christmas, but this was new for them.

“Easter is different,” said guest speaker Tom Beerntsen, the Executive Vice President for the Association Development of YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago. “It’s thinking about rebirth and new beginnings.”

The prayer breakfast has been in the works for about two years, said Oswego YMCA’s executive director, Brent Finlay. With a little over 4,000 members attending the Oswego YMCA it was time to start the tradition here.

“The Naperville YMCA has been doing the breakfast for years,” said Michele Bergeron, the Village’s Community Relations Coordinator. “We’ve always gone in with them, but Oswego is a now a bigger community with our own Y.”

Music was provided by the , most notably by harp player Lauren McComb who performed a piece during the presentation.

Young YMCA member, Blake Richard, also got up to share his experiences with the YMCA.

“The YMCA is a great place," he said. "I love coming here with my friends and family and the community. I look forward to making more memories.”

Beerntsen was the featured guest speaker at the event and he spoke of his own experiences through the YMCA. He grew up in Vanderbaut, Wis., which he said Oswego reminded him of, where there was no youth center until he was a sophomore in high school. The first day the YMCA opened, he charged down there, wanting to be first in the door.

“And in my excitement I pulled the door right off and threw it into the wall!” he laughed. “As a penalty I was to volunteer at the center and I got really involved.”

After graduating from George Williams College, he was invited to go down to Keokuk, Iowa to help with a YMCA there. What he saw shocked him. There were two camps of sort at the center: those from the town and those from across the river who came from a poorer, less educated background.

“When the children were introduced to me, I was told their names and what part of the town they were from. They separated them by these levels," Beerntsen said.

What he saw and took away from that experience was “This organization cannot distinguish. We must embrace value and welcome everyone. No separation by skin colors, no prejudice on religion, and honor everyone even if they cannot afford the cost of participation. We must never lose track the importance of Christian values.”

He ended with the message that “We cannot lose focus on the importance of caring about our kids and families. Our work is about instilling values in kids and changing lives to help them see themselves tomorrow. That’s what the YMCA does."