Among
49 "Unsung Heroes of Compassion"
Dalai Lama Honors San
Rafael Dominican
San
Francisco, CA, April 26, 2009 – His Holiness the Dalai
Lama was the honored guest at a luncheon at the Ritz Carlton Hotel
in San Francisco on Sunday where he acknowledged and thanked 49
individuals, including Sister Gervaise Valpey, OP (San Rafael)
of San Domenico School, who were named the 2009 Unsung Heroes
of Compassion.
The honorees—25 women and 24 men—range in age from
12 to 77, hail from 13 countries, and come from a variety of ethnicities,
cultures, religions and backgrounds. Gathered from the far corners
of the earth, each demonstrates the timeless and universal human
goodness celebrated by every wise culture.
Sister Gervaise Valpey, OP, President Emerita of San
Domenico School in San Anselmo, has for 35 years served its students, pre-kindergarten
through twelfth grade, and the school’s entire community
as a source of spiritual strength and model for service and Dominican
values. The reach of the service programs at San Domenico is both
local and world-wide, connecting students with projects in China,
Argentina, India, Vietnam, Kosovo, and beyond. “I love cheering
on individuals – especially our young women students – to
take risks, be bold and impact the world. Working in a school where
our commitment to social justice, sustainability, and service are
the hallmarks of our everyday life, I see that our students truly
understand their responsibility to make our world a better place.” Sister
Gervaise personally established the Sustainability program in 1994
and today San Domenico is a foremost leader in the area of environmental
education within the Bay Area.
“These individuals have been selected as representatives of the tens
of thousands of people worldwide who quietly serve the disenfranchised and
work to improve our communities through their personal efforts,” says
event chair Dick Grace, founder of Grace Family Vineyards and board chair of
Wisdom in Action, the organization hosting the unique celebration. “We
don’t see them or hear about them in the daily news, but they exemplify
a humanism and heroism to which we must each aspire.”
Other Bay Area honorees acknowledged were:
- Emily Arnold-Fernandez, who founded Asylum Access, ensures
that the rights of refugees in the UN Refugee Convention of 1951
are upheld.
- Steve Emrick, coordinator of the Arts in Corrections program
at San Quentin State Prison.
- Christopher Laub, who’s inspirational attitude while
fighting leukemia made him a local hero in his hometown of Tiburon.
- Judy O’Young, founding medical advisory board member
to Smile Train, a nonprofit organization that provides free surgery
to children worldwide who suffer with cleft lips and palates.
- Steve Preminger, director of Union Community Resources at Working
Partnerships USA exists to address the widening gap between rich
and poor in Silicon Valley.
- Caroline Kornfield (honorable mention), 2003 San Domenico graduate,
who expresses her commitment to human rights by volunteering
with agencies that protect and defend refugees and that seek
nonviolent solutions to international conflicts.
The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the exiled leader of the
Tibetan people and a Buddhist teacher. The 1989 recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize, the Dalai Lama is an outspoken proponent of
nonviolence and compassion, and is loved and revered internationally.
Wisdom in Action (WIA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to
increasing awareness of the importance of compassion in action.
WIA hosted Unsung Heroes of Compassion 2009, the third
event of its kind since 2001, to raise awareness that it is each
individual’s obligation to help the disenfranchised among
us and to acknowledge that each act of compassion makes an important
difference to the world.
Co-hosting the event was Dick Grace, internationally renowned
author Isabel Allende, actor Peter Coyote, 2001 Unsung Heroes
of Compassion honoree Dr. Grace Dammann, and teacher and author
Jack Kornfield. |
San
Domenico is a foremost leader in the area of environmental education
within the Bay Area.
“I love cheering on individuals – especially
our young women students – to take risks, be bold and impact
the world." |