Mount Prospect breakfast marks national day of prayer

Mount Prospect leaders marked National Day of Prayer Thursday by listening to prayers in many languages, including Arabic, Polish, Hebrew, Armenian, Korean and Spanish.

Mount Prospect's ninth annual Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at Bristol Court Banquets attracted 123 people who came to celebrate the diversity of religions in the village.

Guest speaker Jerry Clauser, a volunteer with the Public Action to Deliver Shelter, spoke about how his group is helping the less fortunate.

Clauser brought a twin-sized mattress, which he placed next to the podium, to demonstrate what homeless people must sleep on every night at the shelters.

"Please pray for these people," Clauser said. "They need your prayers."

He said 100 to 200 people sleep at one of 18 area shelters every night. He said the group also transitions people from homelessness to a job, which allows them to have a place of their own. Since 2000, 46 people have made that journey, he said.

Mount Prospect Mayor Irvana Wilks talked to the group about how she was invited last summer to the dedication of the Armenian Evangelical Church at 905 W. Golf Road.

She said the event symbolized to her how so many groups have made their religious home in the village.

The breakfast was co-sponsored by the Mount Prospect Chamber of Commerce and the Mount Prospect Interfaith Council.

It was better attended this year than last by about 20 people, said Jim Uszler, executive director of the Mount Prospect Chamber of Commerce.

The National Day of Prayer began as an annual event in 1952, designated by Congress and signed into law by President Harry Truman.