2010 Voices of Courage Awards Luncheon

"Innovating for Change"

Thursday, May 6, 2010
Noon – 2:00 p.m.
Gotham Hall, New York City

Purchase tickets and tables here.

HOST Lesley Stahl, 60 Minutes/CBS News

AWARDS PRESENTERS Mamie Gummer, actress;
Tracy Kidder, Pulitzer Prize-winning author.  Read more here.

CORPORATE HONOREE

Participants in Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential program learn marketable skills

MICROSOFT will be honored for bringing workforce skills to women through their Unlimited Potential efforts and providing pro bono representation to unaccompanied immigrant children through Kids In Need of Defense (KIND).

Around the world, Microsoft Unlimited Potential combines information technology and strong partnerships with governments, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, educational institutions and technology and service partners, with the goal of enabling sustained social and economic opportunity for the underserved. UP does this by focusing on programs that transform education, foster local innovation and enable jobs and opportunities.

KIND was formed by Microsoft Corp. and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie with the mission of ensuring that every child who arrives in the U.S. unaccompanied has legal representation while in immigration proceedings, and to help make sure they receive fair treatment within our immigration system.

REFUGEE HONOREES

Amalia teaching parenting classes at Berendo Middle School

Amalia Guzman Molina fled from El Salvador with her husband and children in 1998, fearing persecution from local guerrilla forces. She arrived in the United States on a visitor’s visa, but upon arrival applied for asylum. Not long after arriving in the U.S, she and her husband were detained by U.S. immigration authorities and charged with “violating immigration laws,” although the charges were never made clear.

Her children, aged 13, 16, and 19, lived alone while she and her husband were detained. After 16 months in detention, they were finally released and granted asylum. Tragically, her husband died from cancer not long after their release.

Amalia is now very active in Los Angeles working on various detention issues. She founded Families of the Incarcerated, which is part of the Office of Restorative Justice, and operates under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of LA, and works with families of the incarcerated. Most of the individuals who are incarcerated are imprisoned as a result of the U.S. government's recent trend toward criminalizing the physical movement and assimilation efforts of immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers.

Amalia teaches workshops and classes designed to empower and educate immigrant families about criminal and immigration law. Amalia recognized the need to provide education and legal services to immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers long before anyone else in the field. She began the model of providing assistance and resources to immigrants in criminal detention so that the children of those immigrant parents are not forever lost to the foster system.

She is the author of "The Power of Love: My Experience in a U.S. Immigration Jail" and appeared along with her children in "Posada: A Night to Cross All Borders," a half-hour documentary about unaccompanied immigrant children.

Deo attends a severely malnourished child on a home visit in Kigutu.

Deogratias (Deo) Niyzonkiza fled his war-torn country of Burundi for the United States while still enrolled in medical school and after surviving a massacre at the hospital where he worked as an intern.

He arrived in New York with the help of a fellow medical student’s family, and after struggling to learn English, find work and support himself, he enrolled in Columbia University.

After graduating, he worked with Dr. Paul Farmer and his organization Partners in Health. Inspired by the tremendous medical care Dr. Farmer provides for Haiti’s poorest, Deo founded his own free health care clinic in Burundi.

Village Health Works (VHW), his non-profit organization, has built and staffed the Kitugu clinic, which has provided health care (mostly free of cost) to more than 28,000 patients since its opening two years ago. Many patients are refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania.

VHW works closely with the Burundi community and places a special emphasis on obstetrics, pre-natal, maternal and infant care.

Deo is the subject of “Strength in What Remains,” the critically acclaimed new book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder. He currently attends medical school in the United States.

SPONSORSHIPS AND TICKETS

GROUNDBREAKER SPONSOR at $50,000: Premier placement for a table of 10 guests, a full-page journal advertisement with premier position, inclusion in our innovation booklet, company logo and innovation image showcased at luncheon, recognition in printed materials as a Luncheon Underwriter, and logo recognition on our website. VIP reception with refugee honorees.

LUMINARY SPONSOR at $25,000: Premium placement for a table of 10 guests, a full-page journal advertisement with premium position, inclusion in our innovation booklet, company logo and innovation image showcased at luncheon, recognition in printed materials as a Luncheon Co-chair, and logo recognition on our website.

SUPERSTAR SPONSOR at $20,000: Prime placement for a table of 10 guests, a full-page journal advertisement with prime position, inclusion in our innovation booklet, company logo and innovation image showcased at luncheon, and recognition as a Luncheon Co-chair in printed materials and on our website.

TRAILBLAZER SPONSOR at $10,000: Preferred placement for table of 10 guests, a half-page journal advertisement, inclusion in our innovation booklet, company logo and innovation image showcased at luncheon, and recognition as a member of the Luncheon Benefit Committee in printed materials and on our website.

TRENDSETTER SPONSOR at $7,500: Table for 10 guests, and recognition as a member of the Luncheon Benefit Committee in printed materials and on our website.

INNOVATOR TICKET(S) at $1,000 each: Includes recognition on the invitation, journal and our website.

INVENTOR TICKET(S) at $500 each: Includes recognition on the invitation and journal.

BRIGHT LIGHT TICKET(S) at $300 each

Purchase tickets and tables here.

Please note the fair market value for each ticket purchased is $95.

For more information please contact:

Women’s Refugee Commission Benefit Office
212.763.8590
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Read about our 20th Anniversary Voices of Courage Award Luncheon, May 2009.