POUGHKEEPSIE – The ninth annual Dutchess County Leadership Prayer Breakfast on Tuesday morning brought hundreds of government, business, and community leaders together for a multi-denominational breakfast hosted by Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro.
Attendees listened to readings from the Old and New Testament along with a “Prayer for County Leaders” offered by Dutchess County Attorney Caroline Blackburn before keynote speaker Gian Paul Gonzalez took the podium.
Gonzalez is a former NCAA First Team All-American basketball forward from Montclair State University scoring nearly 1,400 points in his 3-year career and played in the NBA Summer League in 2007, resulting in a few contract offers. Rather than go to the NBA, he said, his calling was to work with at-risk youth.
Gonzalez is a widely-recognized motivational speaker that has been credited by the New York Giants with helping them defeat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI. The ninth-grade history teacher in the Union City, NJ high school was summoned by the Giants to lead a chapel service for members of the Giants the night before the team’s Christmas Eve 2011 game against the New York Jets. His encounter with the Giants was the result of members of the coaching staff learning of his work in juvenile detention facilities in New Jersey to motivate the children.
At the 2011 service, Gonzalez gave each of the team members a poker chip to illustrate the concept of commitment. He instructed the players to write their number on one side of the chip and write what they wanted to be committed to on the other side. He then shared with the team the meaning behind the poker phrase “All In”. Mr. Gonzalez, according to the team, inspired them to be committed and put all their “chips” on the table. He went on to urge players to fully commit to anything they take on, whether as a father, husband, son, or even, a football player. When the Giants won the Super Bowl, the team chose the phrase “All-In” to be on the official t-shirts.
On Tuesday, Gonzalez, the Chaplain for the NY Giants encouraged everyone in attendance to be “All In” in their undertakings, including service to the people.
