Youth a theme at Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast

Hundreds of people gathered early Thursday for the 37th annual Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast in the Rancho neighborhood under the themes of encouraging youth, coming together to better the community and having faith in one’s abilities to help others.

Mayor Dave Golonski said everyone faces challenges, and that while Burbank isn’t perfect, residents pull together to make things happen.

City officials, school leaders and faith-based groups gathered to hear guest speaker Jay Schroeder — a former NFL quarterback who played for the Washington Redskins, Los Angeles Raiders and others — touch on the theme of having faith and using your God-given abilities to help others.

Schroeder, a Burbank resident, is a high school football coach at Village Christian Schools. He described football as “a tool to build young men.”

Schroeder also talked about how giving himself completely to God had transformed his life.

He encouraged the audience to touch the lives of others.

“God has given you some amazing abilities to connect with someone, somehow,” Schroeder said. “Use that opportunity. Enjoy the connections.”