St. Vincent’s Charity Dinner Will Recognize National Figures
Awardees Include Two Former HUD Secretaries, Local Supporters

   SAN DIEGO — St. Vincent de Paul Village will award former Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretaries Jack Kemp and Henry Cisneros the Bishop Maher Award at this year’s annual charity dinner, being held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, One Market Place, on Saturday, May 5, at 7:30 p.m. Both Kemp and Cisneros will attend the dinner.

   Local companies and supporters of the Village receiving the Bishop Maher Award include Burkett & Wong Engineers, KSWB 5/69 and Jim (posthumously) and Rita Martin. Additionally, Metabolife International, Inc. will receive the inaugural Pierre Toussaint Award, in recognition of its commitment to supporting the Village’s outreach to children and teens.

    During their appointments to the Cabinet as secretaries of HUD, both Kemp and Cisneros increased funding for St. Vincent’s and its Toussaint Teen Center, in addition to embracing the Village’s "Continuum of Care" concept, a unique take on homeless rehabilitation which provides all programs and services on one site. HUD adopted this approach to assistance as a national model for helping families and individuals in need.

   Kemp was a former quarterback of the San Diego Chargers and was nominated by the Republican Party as the vice-presidential running mate of Sen. Bob Dole during Dole’s bid for the presidency in 1996. Kemp currently serves as co-director of Empower America, a public-policy and advocacy organization he co-founded in 1993 with William Bennett and Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick.

   Cisneros was mayor of San Antonio from 1981 to 1989 and served as president and chief operating officer of Univision Communications between 1997 and 2000. In August of last year, Cisneros announced the formation of American CityVista. The company identifies sites, plans neighborhoods, acquires and develops land and builds homes that are competitively priced.

    The local contingent of awardees includes Burkett & Wong Engineers, which has worked on every Village construction project dating back to 1982, including expansion of the organization’s programs into Las Vegas and Indio. The engineering firm, in addition to ensuring the safety and quality of all Village facilities, has always offered discounted services to St. Vincent’s, assisting the Village with maintaining its industry-low 7.5 percent administrative overhead.

   The KSWB Cares For Kids Fund, a McCormick Tribune Foundation fund, has donated more than $1 million over the past three years to support children’s services at the Village, including $400,000 in 1998 and 1999 to allay the loss of a grant supporting the Toussaint Teen Center.

   Metabolife will receive the Pierre Toussaint Award for its contribution to Toussaint Youth Villages, which include a new project, PromiseLand Ranch, in Campo and the Toussaint Teen Center in San Diego. The company has committed $5 million over the next 10 years to the ranch, which will provide a multitude of programs and services for 250 children whose needs are not being met by San Diego County’s troubled foster care system. The project will also include a camp for youth organizations such as the Boy Scouts and the YMCA as well as a conference center for business and church groups.

   Leo T. Maher served as Bishop of San Diego from 1969 to 1990. In 1982, he selected Father Joe Carroll to expand the services of St. Vincent’s, which today is recognized as the most successful homeless rehabilitation program in America. In addition to its flagship operation in San Diego, the Village has opened facilities in Indio and Las Vegas. The award named after Maher recognizes companies and individuals who share his vision of providing a "preferential option for the poor." Maher died in 1991.

   The Pierre Toussaint Award is named after a Haitian slave who lived in New York during the early 1800s. Working as a hairdresser, he amassed a fortune and spent much of his wealth reaching out to underprivileged children. A hero of Father Joe’s since childhood, Toussaint and his mission live on today through the Village’s outreach to children in need.

   For more information on the charity dinner, call (619) 687-1012.

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