Danville Native Matt George Ready to Deliver His Message; Friday, October 27th at Public Library

This coming Friday (Oct 27th) The Danville Public Library Foundation and Danville Area Community College Foundation are bringing Danville native Matt George, and his “Change Lives Save Lives Tour,” to the Danville Public Library.

Matt George graduated from Danville High School in 1988.  He eventually had a very important nonprofit CEO job, running the Children’s Home Association of Illinois in Peoria, where he still lives.  And one day he looked around at the rest of the world and said, “we need to do something here.”

AUDIO: I thought to myself, I’ve got to do more.  We’re kind of losing our way in our society, and we need to focus and show our kids that it’s their job to become the leaders that we need them to be to take over for us.  But we have to show them the way.  I just felt like that wasn’t happening.  So I wrote a book a few years ago.  I have a mentor, Kevin Harrington, who’s the original Shark on Shark Tank.

Today, George is known for a couple books, such as “The Nonprofit Profet” and “Starfish Among Us.”  And he takes his “Change Lives, Save Lives” tour all around the country.  Neuhoff Media caught up to him this past Friday when he was in Pittsburgh; after, by the way, he had made a stop at the White House.  And George says making a stop in Danville was a top priority.

AUDIO: And I said, you know what?  I have to do something in Danville.  My mom still lives there; my step dad.  I have my sister and her husband that still live there.  Their kids grew up there.  I grew up there; my brothers and sisters.  I just love Danville.  And so, I needed to put that on the map.

Danville Public Library Foundation Executive Director Peter Blackmon says that during his time at the University of Illinois, he knew about Matt George, but not that he was from Danville.

AUDIO: I just kind of followed him.  And I saw some of the cool stuff that he was doing for philanthropy.  So, over the years, we’ve gotten to know each other here and there.  We’ve worked together on a couple of events.  It was put in his head, actually, by some of his local friends, to bring his tour to Danville.  And it was their suggestion that the library was a great place to do it.  And I couldn’t agree more.

It all begins at 12 Noon Friday.  Just enter through the main Danville Public Library door, and turn left into the conference room.