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| FIAC Annual Awards Dinner | February 19, 2010 |
| FIAC's Annual Awards Dinner The Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC) will be hosting its 2010 Annual Awards Dinner, Immigrant Voices, on February 25 at the Hotel InterContinental in downtown Miami. FIAC will be honoring several local residents for their work on behalf of immigrants during the evening. This year's honorees are Jacqueline Charles of The Miami Herald, Dr. Stephen Symes of the University of Miami Medical School and celebrated artist Edouard Duval-Carrié. Dr. Pedro Jose Greer will be Master of Ceremonies and CNN Special Correspondent Soledad O'Brien will be the keynote speaker. Greer has won numerous awards, including the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom, for his dedication to securing access to medical care for the poor and the homeless. O'Brien has reported breaking news from around the globe and has produced award-winning documentaries on the most important stories facing the world today. O'Brien's most recent project, Latino in America, was a wide-ranging look at Latinos living in this country and featured FIAC attorney Michelle Abarca and her client "Marta." This year's awards dinner co-chairs are Norma Kipnis-Wilson, FIAC Board Member and South Florida Philanthropist, Raoul G. Cantero, former Florida Supreme Court Justice and Stephen N. Zack, the first Cuban-American president-elect of the American Bar Association. Dr. Symes, a native of Jamaica, will be awarded the Arthur Helton Humanitarian Award. Last year, he played a pivotal role in helping Rosemarie, a FIAC client in immigration custody, get urgently needed surgery. Dr. Symes also is collaborating with FIAC to involve medical students from UM's Jay Weiss Center for Social Medicine and Health Equity in other cases where medical assessment is critical. The Sister Catherine Cassidy Compassion Award will be given to The Miami Herald's Charles, who covers the Caribbean for the newspaper. In 2008, she was the first to report on the devastation and death caused by back-to-back storms in Cabaret, Haiti. Her work in the aftermath of this year's horrific earthquake has acquainted the world with the struggle of the Haitian people. The Sister Maureen T. Kelleher Altruism Award will go to Edouard Duval-Carrié, one of the most celebrated Haitian artists in the world. His art deals with symbols of violence in colonial society and the ways of war, exile, displacement -- universal themes for the strife of peoples worldwide. The painting and poster he created to raise funds for FIAC, Haitian Art Relief Fund and The Haitian Cultural Arts Council in the wake of the earthquake speaks to his generosity. The original painting and posters will be on sale during the reception and dinner. Doors open for the event at 6 p.m. on Thursday, February 25. Sponsors The dinner's Presenting Sponsor is the John and Selene Devaney Charitable Foundation. Platinum-level Sponsors include Stephen Zack and Carl Goldfarb of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, Commissioner Katy Sorenson, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, White & Case LLP, and the William J. and Tina Rosenberg Foundation. Gold-level sponsors include Faith Gay of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP, Gotardo Rodrigues, M.D., Greenberg Traurig LLP, Rev. Dr. Priscilla Felisky Whitehead and The Green Family Foundation. Silver-level Sponsors include the Law Offices of Chavez & De Leon, P.A., Louis Jepeway, Jr. and the Shepard Broad Foundation. Bronze-level Sponsors include: Baptist Health South Florida, Barbara Swan and Barry Diamond, Commissioner Sally A. Heyman, Duane Morris LLP, Edwidge Danticat, Geoffrey and Jeanine Cole, Hialeah Hospital, Jane and Rick Herron, Janet McAiley, Kathleen Murphy, Leslie J. Lott and Michael T. Moore, Maria Buch, M.D., Miami Dade College, Norma and Allan Wilson, Peter Upton, Esq., Robert L. Parks, P.L., Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP, The Succession Group and University of Miami, School of Law. | |