The following is this week’s I AM, YOU ARE, WE ARE Honoree by Ashton Greer and Nicole Van Hyfte
“Marcia Keys makes our community a better place in so many ways.” This statement couldn’t be truer after interviewing this week’s IYW. From winning an award for being a good student in the 8th grade to working at the prison to starting a non-profit, Marcia has spent her life as a servant in Vermilion County.
Marcia was born and raised in Danville along with her 8 siblings. She attended St. Patrick’s (which is now Holy Family) through 8th grade and graduated from Danville High School. She moved to Georgetown at the age of 18 and has been there ever since. Marcia along with her husband, Richard, and their combined 8 children and several grandchildren have always considered it home.
Marcia started her 12-year career at Lee’s Famous Recipe and in 1986 got hired at the Illinois Department of Corrections as a correctional officer. She did that for almost 2 years, then went to food service, and was then fortunate enough to be the assistant for the food service operation for 3 years. She eventually was promoted to the Food Service Administrator and did that from 1994 until she retired in 2016. “It was an awesome experience at the prison. I thought it was such a rewarding opportunity. I felt like I was a servant trying to make the lives of the incarcerated better while they were there:uplifting them, loving them, and not judging them,” Mrs. Keys said. She recalls several inmates who have since been released who have told her that she made a difference in their lives. “That’s worth it all. When you find out what you did naturally just being yourself, treating them with compassion and understanding: we gave them hope and made them feel like they were somebody.”
After retirement, Marcia was charged by a friend to start a non-profit after seeing her and her husband do so much for the community. After much encouragement to magnify what they were already doing, she started up the 501c organization called Over the Rainbow Ministries, after her late mother’s favorite song. They assist people in the community to meet whatever the needs may be. They have given money to other non-profits, provided transportation, car repair, anonymous payment for gas at the pump, and so on through their ministry. “We try to meet the needs of people as God directs us to. We don’t necessarily go searching for people: God sends them to us. His desire is to show His love through us.”
You may catch Marcia and Richard out in the community running errands with her siblings, checking on her father-in-law’s farm, or attending New Life Church of Faith, where Marcia is spearheading the upcoming grocery store in Heavenly Square. They also put together care packages for the homeless that Chief Yates distributes to police officers to hand out as they see fit.
“I can only do what I do because of God and because of my husband, who is my best friend. Jesus wants us to love people through the bad stuff. If you treat somebody as if they’ve never sinned, that’s the love of God.”
Thank you, Marcia, for your faith, compassion, generosity, and giving heart that you bless Vermilion County with daily.
You may send donations for Over the Rainbow Ministries, LLC to 305 W. 9th Street, Georgetown, IL 61846.
If you have someone you would like to share,
visit https://forms.gle/deCPiQ1cxn1pDLhZ9
or contact Ashton Greer, City of Danville agreer@cityofdanville.org or
Nicole Van Hyfte, Vermilion Advantage nvanhyfte@vermilionadvantage.com.
