Newswise — SPOKANE, Washington – Gonzaga University and the Opus Prize Foundation will honor three exemplary faith-based humanitarians and award one with the $1 million 2014 Opus Prize this Thursday evening, Oct. 16. Two finalists will receive $100,000 each to advance their social change initiatives. The finalists are Sister Teresa Fitzgerald of Hour Children, Queens, New York; Gollapalli Israel, of the Janodayam Social Education Centre in Chennai, India; and Rev. Joseph Maier, of the Mercy Centre Human Development Foundation in Bangkok.
Gonzaga welcomes the finalists to campus and the Inland Northwest Oct. 13-16 for a series of events, including a reception by Spokane Mayor David Condon, City Council President Ben Stuckart, and City Council members last evening (Monday). A crowd of 1,500 people – including more than 650 students, as well as dignitaries, community leaders, neighbors, friends and supporters – is expected for the awards ceremony and community reception Thursday evening at Spokane’s Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox. All three finalists will speak before the winner is announced. The event will be streamed live at http://www.gonzaga.edu/streaming.
Gonzaga is abuzz with excitement over the week’s activities. The finalists will take part in a community panel discussion on Tuesday evening, and an Interfaith Service on Wednesday led by Archbishop Blase Cupich, leader of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane and recently appointed archbishop of Chicago. The finalists will engage with Gonzaga’s campus community in multiple venues, including visits to business, entrepreneurship, leadership, and sociology classrooms, service projects and faculty forums. Broadcast journalism students are planning a special Opus Prize production. The finalists will dine with University Trustees, Regents, alumni and the students who had the opportunity to visit them at their places of work.
Gonzaga was selected by the Opus Prize Foundation to partner on this year’s award because of its Jesuit, Catholic commitment to social justice and its tenacious approach to addressing challenges, said Don Neureuther, executive director of the foundation. The 22-month process to seek, nominate and review candidates has been distinguished by the intense involvement of Gonzaga students, said Michael Herzog, chair of Gonzaga’s Opus Prize Steering Committee.
“The Opus Prize Foundation intends for this philanthropic work to inspire college students, and it has engaged a real cross-section of our faculty, staff and students in an exceptional and broad educational experience,” Herzog said. “These individuals, and the organizations they lead, are courageous, undaunted by tough, seemingly intractable social problems, entrepreneurial and rooted in the faith that does justice. They are inspirational role models for our students and our community, and we are thrilled to welcome them to Spokane.”
THE FINALISTS
Rebuilding New York FamiliesSister Teresa “Tesa” Fitzgerald, a Sister of St. Joseph, directs Hour Children, a nonprofit organization in Queens, New York, that provides comprehensive services to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and their children, reuniting families and building healthy, self-sufficient lives.
The program is named for the important hours that shape the life of children with mothers behind bars: the hour their mother is arrested, the hour children visit their mothers in prison, and the hour of their release.
Hour Children offers housing, education, transportation, day care, job training and employment assistance, and personal and addiction counseling in a compassionate environment. The organization builds hope among women who have had few reasons for hope. More than 80 percent of the women helped by Hour Children have a childhood history of physical or sexual abuse; 82 percent are substance abusers; and, on average, their education ended after seventh-grade.
Hour Children reminds us of the reality that these are OUR children, and this organization works to ensure these children a future of hope. Sister Tesa and her staff are devoted to stopping the cycle of incarceration. While the average rate of female offenders relapsing into criminal behavior and returning to prison nationwide is approximately 30 percent, the recidivism rate for Hour Children has been less than 5 percent for the past 25 years.
Aiding ‘Untouchables’ in IndiaFor the past 18 years, Gollapalli Israel has practiced his Baptist faith working among the Dalit caste – the untouchables – in the slums of Chennai, India. With his education, he could have pursued any professional opportunity; he has chosen to fight for justice and opportunity for his people. While legislation has technically abolished India’s caste system, centuries of stigma remain, and the Dalit or oppressed caste remains at the bottom of the hierarchy.
Janodayam translates into “People Arise.” Israel leads the Janodayam Social Education Centre, which focuses on education, advocacy and economic independence as the means to advance the impoverished. The nonprofit organization’s work includes three main programs:
• Night schools and tutoring have helped thousands of Dalit children pursue better education, including technical courses that lead to living wage jobs;• A network that empowers Dalit leaders from 132 local slums to advocate for their people’s rights and government assistance by helping them to assemble, organize and negotiate for basic rights; and • Instruction provided by Janodayam, coupled with a government micro-loan program has enabled 5,000 Dalit women to start small businesses.
In addition, Israel has developed strong partnerships with local universities. More than 900 young adults from Dalit families have earned undergraduate or graduate degrees, including 10 at the doctoral level.
The Promise of Education in BangkokIn 1972, Rev. Joe Maier, a Redemptorist priest born in Longview, Wash., co-founded the Human Development Foundation Mercy Centre in Klong Toey, the largest slum in Bangkok. Klong Toey is home to more than 100,000 of the city’s poor. Maier works to empower the men, women and children by arming them with education. Mercy Centre manages 23 kindergartens serving more than 3,000 children. It operates special schools for street children and secures scholarships for more than 1,000 children annually.
Other Mercy Centre programs target complex social issues. Father Joe, as he is known, and his staff work with police to keep children out of the hands of human traffickers. They’ve built 10,000 homes, plus playgrounds and sports facilities. They established a women’s credit union to fight loan sharking and help women control their finances. They provide home care to some 360 patients suffering from HIV/AIDS and related diseases. Constantly, they are prepared with emergency relief.
Since 2004, the Opus Prize Foundation has partnered annually with a Catholic university to secure nominations from around the globe, to involve students in the review and evaluation process, and to host an awards ceremony. The private, independent and nonprofit Opus Prize Foundation was established in 1994 to provide “a cannon shot” gift that meaningfully honors and supports individuals and organizations making substantial progress in transforming the lives of the poor and vulnerable.
Media ContactsFor more information, please contact Mary Joan Hahn, Gonzaga’s director of community and public relations at (509) 313-6095 or [email protected] or Don Neureuther, executive director of the Opus Prize Foundation, (239) 213-8100 or via email at [email protected]. Find more information about the Opus Prize at http://www.opusprize.org/.
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