Lt. Gov. keynotes Judson University prayer breakfast

Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti was the keynote speaker Wednesday at Judson University's annual Community Prayer Breakfast.

More than 300 local volunteers and civic leaders gathered at Judson's Elgin campus for the event.

Sanguinetti, the 47th lieutenant governor of Illinois and the first Hispanic woman to hold that post in the country, said she found a relationship with God after a 2007 slip-and-fall accident and being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Sanguinetti, born to a Cuban refugee mother and father who migrated from Ecuador, told stories of her upbringing by immigrant parents and about finding God in dire circumstances. In 2011, Sanguinetti joined the Wheaton City Council. She was an assistant attorney general for former Attorney General Jim Ryan before being elected to her state post.

"It's only when you learn to be a humble servant that you can be a leader," she said.

Velma Sept received Judson's 2015 D. Ray Wilson Volunteer Service Award for helping with local initiatives, such as literacy programs, prenatal workshops, scholarship drives, and food outreach. Sept is a board member of the Boys & Girls Club of Elgin, member of the Elgin Community College Alliance for College Readiness, and involved with the Elgin Area School District U-46 African American Advisory Council, Black Women's Association, Elgin Area Women's Connection, Elgin Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association, Elgin Area Chamber Retention Committee, American Gospel Quartet Convention, and U-46 Educational Foundation.

Sept worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 30 years, is treasurer of her church choir at New Hope Baptist Church of Elgin, and part of the singing group, the Larkin Family of Chicago.