Before he was sworn in as the 43rd governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker visited Marillac St. Vincent Family Services to learn more about our programs and the people we serve on Saturday, January 12th, 2019. J.B. kicked off his statewide “day of service” at MSV’s Foglia Center, arriving in the morning to help decorate cookies with the children of MSV.
J.B. was joined by his wife M.K. Pritzker, and the two of them made a point to go around and meet every child in the room. Alderman Walter Burnett was also in attendance that day, and was very instrumental in organizing the visit. As always, we appreciate Alderman Burnett’s support of our mission. It was wonderful to see the politicians and children engaging in discussions, asking for advice and learning a bit about each other. Pritzker also took some time to talk with MSV’s CEO Peter Beale-DelVecchio, COO Maureen Hallagan, and CFO Karen Kane about our programs and long history of empowering those in need. Maureen Hallagan had this to say about the visit, “It was great to see a local politician, with a history of supporting early childhood education, take an interest in the work we do at MSV. We hope Governor Pritzker keeps his promise to work for us and make early childhood education a priority in Illinois.”
Pritzker went on to visit many other social service organizations around the state, despite the snowy conditions outside, and staff at MSV donated the decorated cookies from the day to a local homeless shelter. Overall, the event was a tremendous success! The children of Marillac St. Vincent had a great time meeting and decorating cookies with J.B and his wife. We look forward to hosting Governor Pritzker at one of our centers again in the future.