SIXTH ANNUAL BAY AREA DINNER AND SARLO FOUNDATION DISTINGUISHED HUMANITARIAN SERVICE AWARDS
Five members of the IRC's field staff were honored for their dedication and sacrifice on behalf of refugees on Monday, October 13 at the IRC’s sixth annual Bay Area Dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco. Michael Krasny, host of public radio station KQED's award-winning news and public affairs program Forum, was master of ceremonies.
The Sarlo Foundation Distinguished Humanitarian Service Awards were presented by IRC president George Rupp and George and Susie Sarlo of the Sarlo Foundation. In his remarks, George Sarlo remembered that it was while observing the dangerous work of IRC aid workers in the former Yugoslavia that he was inspired to propose a peer-nominated humanitarian award to honor IRC field workers.
The 2008 award recipients were Rania Ali Abdalla, Environmental Health Manager, Somalia; Amina Suleiman Farah, Resettlement Case Manager, San Diego, California; Amie Kandeh, Gender-Based Violence Prevention Coordinator, Sierra Leone; Rabiou Manzo, Resettlement Program Manager, Boise, Idaho; and Dr. Pascal Ngoy, Primary Health Care Policy Advisor, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kandeh and Suleiman Farah both addressed the audience and received standing ovations. Kandeh described her life’s journey from growing up in a polygamous family of 19 people, to her escape to the United States during the civil war in Sierra Leone and her return home in 2002 as an IRC staff member. “I stand here tonight not just as a survivor who was physically and emotionally battered by her husband, and a survivor of female genital mutilation, but as a proud Sierra Leonean, who loves working with women and girls because it makes a positive difference in their lives,” she told the audience.
Before the award presentations, George Rupp presented a tribute to the four IRC field staff members who were killed in Afghanistan on August 13.
The evening featured a dialogue between Krasny and Khaled Hosseini, the critically-acclaimed author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Co-chairs of the dinner were IRC overseers Jennifer Brokaw and Donald Putnam, IRC board members Betsy Blumenthal and George Sarlo and IRC donors Bill and Ute Bowes and Silvia and Paul Edwards. The dinner was the best attended in the Bay Area series, attracting 420 people. The fundraiser brought in $360,000 in ticket and table sales in advance of the event and raised an additional $100,000 during the evening thanks to an onsite challenge by the event co-chairs.
Sixth Annual Bay Area Dinner Sponsors
2008 Sarlo Foundation Distinguished Service Award Recipients
