14TH ANNUAL BEACON OF HOPE

14TH ANNUAL BEACON OF HOPE

Connecting Communities | October 2021

On Friday, October 22, Marillac St. Vincent Family Services (MSV) hosted its 14th Annual Beacon of Hope Luncheon. This year’s event brought the Marillac St. Vincent family back together along with virtual viewers to celebrate the hard work over the last year. The focus was on Trauma Informed Care, and the event raised over $121,000.

During Marillac St. Vincent’s 100+ years of work, trauma has been a major topic for its communities in Chicago. A recent Adverse Childhood Experience Study shared by the panelists showed that over 90% of American adults directly experience at least 1 trauma in their lives and more than 1/3rd of children have experience 4+ traumatic incidents.  And that these traumatic experiences have a long-lasting adverse impact on their physical and mental well-being. 

The event, along with the in-depth panel discussion on Trauma Informed Care, was hosted by award winning Chicago broadcast journalist Darryl W. Dennard.  He moderated the panel between guests Dr. Orson Morrison, Director of DePaul University’s Family and Community Services (LCP) and Sister Salvatrice Murphy, Mental Health Consultant at Marillac St. Vincent Family Services (DC, LCSW).

“It's becoming educated about trauma and how it affects people and then making the changes in our policy and our interactions with people”, said Sr. Salvatrice. “We want to build vibrant communities in Chicago; we want to support things that help people to develop resilience and responding to trauma does that.”

“It’s a Public Health approach” said Dr. Morrison, “so much of it is about education as well as learning skills to form those solid, safe environments.”

Following the Trauma Informed Care Panel Discussion, MSV President and CEO, Peter Beale-DelVecchio shared a short video showcasing the organization’s mission in action and stories from the community members MSV serves. “When we say empowerment … it’s unleashing the power of everyone who walks through our door” said Beale-DelVecchio “That is what we are trying to do every day, trying to build a brighter future for our city [Chicago].”

The event concluded with two awards for service to Marillac St. Vincent and the communities served.

The 2021 Louise de Marillac Service Award was presented to Dr. Jack Raba for his outstanding service to the Marillac St. Vincent’s children, families and seniors. “Jack has dedicated his life to practicing medicine in underserved areas... I want to highlight the amazing work he has done for Marillac St. Vincent these last 15 years.” said Maureen Hallagan.

The 2021 Outstanding Community Partner was awarded to DePaul University. The award was presented by a heartfelt video message from Sister Katie. “I am amazed at the number of lives that have been touched through the work of DePaul at Marillac St. Vincent” said Sr. Katie. “From the arts to personal care, athletics, laws students and healthcare, they have been a good neighbor and a wonderful partner. It is a partnership that would make St. Vincent and St. Louise proud!”

Arnez Cooper, Marillac St. Vincent’s Child Development & Compliance Manager and recipient of the Vincentian Family Scholarship presented the award to Julie Emms, DePaul’s Director of Community Relations, who accepted the award on behalf of the University.

For more information on the partnership with DePaul, see our recent article here.

Click here to watch the full recording of the 14th Annual Beacon of Hope.

We have raised over $121,000 to help support Trauma Informed Care and are just shy of our goal.
Click here to support Marillac in the Chicago community by making a donation today.