Exchange Clubs to host One Nation Under God Prayer Breakfast Nov. 20

One Nation Under God Prayer Breakfast is hosted each year during the week of Thanksgiving to bring together communities and businesses to acknowledge and appreciate the blessings of liberty, unity and community.

Master of ceremonies Deanne Fisher will welcome guests, and Pastor Todd Habegger, Senior Pastor of the Village Church of Gurnee, will offer an opening prayer, followed by the Presentation of Colors by the Gurnee Fire and Police Departments. Also, the 2018 Police Officer of the Year and the Police Department Civilian of the Year will be honored.

Gurnee Police Chief Kevin Woodside will introduce keynote speaker Paul Baffico, a Vietnam veteran who served with the 101st Airborne Division in 1970 and 1971 as a communications platoon leader. He is currently the President of the Lake County Veterans and Family Services Foundation, which he founded in 2012 as a part of his recovery process in dealing with the invisible wounds of combat.

The program will also recognize military veterans and honor their service to the country with a medley of patriotic songs bythe Viking Park Singers. The program will conclude with a closing prayer by the Honorable Judge George Bridges and the singing of "God Bless America."

The Exchange Club is a service organization working together to make communities better places through programs of service in Americanism, community service, youth activities, and its national project, the prevention of child abuse. The breakfast is sponsored by the Exchange Clubs of Grayslake, Gurnee, North Chicago, Round Lake, and Robert Morris University.

For more information, contact Hanna Blockinger, chair of the One Nation Under God Breakfast planning committee, at (847) 975-6511 or Hannab56@comcast.net.