By Mike Finney, The Milford Beacon
Received at http://www.milfordbeacon.com/news/20160509/shupe-tips-hat-to-younger-generation-at-prayer-breakfast
The Milford Community Prayer Breakfast has been a tradition for the past 33 years.
There were plenty of prayers offered, Bible verses read and hymns sung by leaders and members of area churches at the Milford Senior Center on Friday, May 6.
This time around, an appreciative Mayor Bryan Shupe opted to toss his own support behind the city’s younger generation and what they have to offer.
Xitlali Roman Campos, a Milford resident who was named 2015 Delaware Youth of the Year by Boys and Girls Clubs throughout the state, was the keynote speaker .
Campos, who moved to the United States from Mexico at the age of 6 with a name “no one could pronounce,” talked about how the Greater Milford Boys and Girls Club gave her the confidence to reach her potential.
“My first day at the [Boys and Girls] Club began with me crying my eyes out,” Campos said. “It seemed like another place with strangers making strange noise that I didn’t understand. I felt alone.
“However, my eyes sparkled when I heard someone speak Spanish. It was the Spanish teacher. She became my security blanket.”
Campos went on to make the Boys and Girls Club her own land of opportunity.
It gave her the confidence and support to help her become the first high school graduate in her family, fourth in her class, and now attending the University of Delaware pursuing a degree in pediatric oncology.
Shupe said Campos is an inspiration to the community. She works at the Milford Boys and Girls Club and assists staff and club kids on a daily basis.
“I think it’s very easy when you’re talking about the younger generation to look at some of the negatives going on around our country … and placing this new generation inside a box, thinking they only care about themselves or they’re lazy,” Shupe said, “but I think we can see there are a lot of people in this generation that are working hard and they’re giving back to their community.”
Campos said she feels like it is her obligation to give back.
“The club gave me a home and gave me a passion and gave me a family,” she said. “Now, as the circle continues, I plan to give back to the place that made me successful.”
Shupe went on to say there are still many opportunities in Milford, pointing to the healthcare campus scheduled to open in 2019 and the city’s application to become a member of the state’s Downtown Development District program this year.
“We have many opportunities in this community and we are very blessed for where we are right now,” he said. “My wife [Sherry] has said Milford has been on the cusp for a lot of years and we’re ready to hit that tipping point.”
He thanked the community for their prayers for him and his family.
“Every morning when I wake up I’m blessed to be the mayor of Milford and when I say my prayer before I go to bed I pray that I take that responsibility humbling and I take that responsibility seriously as we continue driving Milford forward,” Shupe said. “It’s important overall that I serve the interests of the people of Milford over myself or my family.”
Rep. Harvey Kenton was the emcee. The Rev. Dr. Paul Isaacs of Calvary United Methodist Church read Psalms 33, there was special music by members of the Lighthouse Christian Center and Mount Enon Baptist Church and prayers by Rabbi Beth Cohen of the Seaside Jewish Community, Rev. David P. Perdue of the First Baptist Church and Pastor Dorrice Burris of the Milford Church of God.