Lucille Berrien

“She put the voice in my head that says, You have a responsibility to take care of people less fortunate than you are.”

“Lucille Berrien is definitely one of Milwaukee’s unsung heros. She gives of herself tirelessly to the downtrodden, the voiceless and the hopeless. It is such a pleasure to have her serve on the board of directors at Village of Hope.”

“I try to enact Lucille’s philosophy – her belief that taking care of others is an essential part of being human and that we can best take care of others when we have a decent public support system to do so. Her life experience is deep and that depth is incredibly informative and beautiful.”

“I feel like there is a really long way to go but it’s profoundly meaningful for a homegrown, grassroots activist like Lucille Berrien to have this place in the city.”

“I’m never afraid to walk the streets of Milwaukee.”

“I want change for my grandchildren.”

“They need to know why they are where they are. And they don’t. It’s the young people that make the world go ‘round.”

“On a professional level, my law firm also enacts her philosophy. If we make Lucille proud, I know we’re doing our job and making good on our mission statement.”

“Things are going so backwards in Milwaukee, makes you wish for those days to come back.”

“It was a lot of hard work, And I knew I wasn’t going to win. There are two kinds of power: money power and people power. If you don’t have the money, you can still win with people.”

“I supported them. I thought what they were doing was correct.”

“I was 24 years old when I became a widow, and I think about all those mothers who have husbands in Iraq. It will be harder for them than it was for me. I always said that if anything happened to my husband I would take the kids up North. I thought they would have a higher quality education.”