Loaves & Fishes awards
San Francisco Catholic Charities CYO, the social service arm of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, will honor several individuals and organizations April 3 at the 12th annual Loaves & Fishes awards dinner, an event that benefits the more than 30 programs of Catholic Charities CYO in San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin Counties.
Selected to receive Loaves & Fishes awards this year are Joan F. Madden and Richard B. Madden for outstanding philanthropic works; Children of Shelters for outstanding community organization; Most Reverend Ignatius C. Wang for outstanding service to the universal Church; and Family Eviction Prevention Collaborative of San Francisco for outstanding community partnership.
Presentation of the awards by San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer will take place at the April 3 dinner, chaired by Craig and Maureen Sullivan, at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.
Catholic Charities CYO released a statement saying the 2009 honorees have been especially dedicated to assisting children and families in crisis, and provided the following information about the honorees.
Former CEO and chairman of Potlatch Corporation, Richard Madden and his wife Joan have lived their deeply held faith through their commitment to community service and philanthropy. The Maddens are active in the Order of Malta, have assisted the poor and distressed via several pilgrimages to Lourdes and served with Malta programs here in the Bay Area, including St. Anne's Home and the Malta Clinic at the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland. Joan is an Emeritus Director and the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Edgewood Center for Children and Families, a nationally recognized agency that cares for Bay Area children and families through community and residential programs. Together, the Maddens have contributed to the lives of countless others via their charitable efforts with a number of organizations, including the San Francisco Foundation, the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, the San Francisco Symphony and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
For 14 years, Children of Shelters has served as a powerful advocate for homeless youth and provided for the educational and emotional needs of over 4,000 children in the transitional shelter system in San Francisco via tutoring, college tuition assistance, and support to enhance their academic achievement and enrich their character development. The organization raises private resources to directly benefit children in various San Francisco shelters, including Compass Family Center, Hamilton Family Center, Raphael House and Catholic Charities CYO's St. Joseph's Family Center.
Appointed as the Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of San Francisco by Pope John Paul II in 2002, Bishop Ignatius C. Wang is the first Catholic Bishop of Chinese ancestry and of Asian background to be appointed in the United States. He has ministered to the spiritual needs and welfare of local parishioners, especially reaching out to Catholics of all ethnicities to incorporate their languages into Church rites so that they could embrace the Church as their own.
Family Eviction Prevention Collaborative (FEPCO), a partnership between Homeless Prenatal Program, Hamilton Family Center, Compass Community Services and Catholic Charities CYO, prevents homelessness by providing rental assistance to families to stave off eviction, and helping those in shelters find permanent homes. The partner agencies share a stream of rental assistance funding from the city of San Francisco and use a standardized application process that affords a client access to funds from all four agencies. This single, streamlined intake process means fewer bureaucratic hurdles for those in need and faster action on the part of the agencies.
Created by Cardinal William J. Levada, Archbishop Emeritus of San Francisco, and Clint Reilly, former President of the Catholic Charities CYO Board of Directors, the Loaves & Fishes Award honors extraordinary charitable works in the community and raises vital funds for the agency's programs that help families, children and those in need. More than $10,000,000 has been raised in support of Catholic Charities CYO through the Loaves & Fishes Awards and Dinner.
