thank you and welcome to the city of holland council chambers this is a lovely building and i hope that you will come again so i extend a warm welcome to you to our nominees are recipients of the social justice awards for twenty fourteen and i'd like to start by letting many people don't know what the human relations department is and the commission actually works to promote social justice in the community and we also conduct many activities to make sure that we are promoting social justice cultural understanding and also doing them in a way that brings the community together one of the things that we do every year is are the social justice awards and we award individuals in the community who exemplify a desire to do great works that really have an impact on the community as a whole and today we're going to recognize six individuals we're going to recognize a young lady who worked with other people in the community to collect warm clothes hats gloves coats for children in orphanages in the ukraine she did this on her own we're really proud to have are in the community another individual in the housing in the area of housing jeanette branson many of you may not know her but when you do get to know her you'll find if she gives you her business card you know exactly the type person she is and her business card it says the name of her company and then right underneath it says beloved communities and you know right away that there is a warmth about her and there is something about her that extends goodwill in the area where she works in the world and right away without knowing anything else about her you know that this lady is doing great things and fortunately she's not here today but her france will be accepting they at the social justice award on her behalf the other organization we'd like to to recognize is the alliance for cultural and ethnic harmony this is the first time the human relations has ever given an award to  a publication of sorts how many of you have received in the community news letter well if you don't get it you need to see the editor and well or before you leave and get on her mailing list because this newsletter keeps you and touch with the pulse of the community she oftentimes has events that you wouldn't normally hear or know about and she does a very good job and of course she doesn't really want to receive the recognition she wants the alliance they have all the recognition and they do a wonderful job the other work in the othe r individual we want to wreck recognizes rick mannus rick mannus works with foster children that are aging out faster system and many of us who have parents know what an impact they have on your life you know at those big milestones you always remember them being there and i remember when my parents dropped me off it college  my parents my mother said you can come home any time you want any time if this doesn't work out come right home but you know they out wasn't what i remember that's not what i really remember my mom saying and my dad was there as well actually what the message she was sending was i expect you to finish there's an expectation there that you will finish you will do well and you'll come home when it's time to come home you know some kids don't have that so rick steps in the gap and helps these young young young men and women to to get that opportunity to have that moral support to be an advocate when students really need advocacy we're also going to recognize roberto hyla where we all know who burt is he's the executive director of destination education verts passion is to make sure that students every student has the opportunity to pursue a secondary degree outside of college they at can be very difficult for some students he helps especially those students who are the first for the very first time going to attend college and there can be a real difficult time for not only the student but their families and then finally we have a lifetime  award to present today to ralph kicker ralph kicker is a long time resident in our community who has devoted his life to racial equity in the areas of housing food and a court system and we're really glad that you can be here too to hear and see these wonderful people in our community i'd like to introduce the chair of the human relations department maggie rivera are going to be presenting the plaque to j c j c could you please come up  good evening working with a variety of local agencies jaycee's project was able to collect and send over three hundred eighty pounds of clothing to three orphanages her plea for winter wear reached not simply her school but many in holland by the end of october two hundred fifty coats and over one hundred other warm essential oils were being prepared for shipment to the ukraine chasey even sold ukrainian candy bars to pay for the shipping fees she's coach drive is also remarkable for its timing even those well aware of numerous of the numerous political conflicts in ukraine can easily forget the vast impact of war on daily lives many orphanages though there are efforts for relocation why in the midst of violence the codes to see collected were not simply to protect these children from the cold but to protect them from feeling isolated and forgotten for her reminder of the innocent individuals who suffer during times of war community collaborative focus on making completion of post secondary education and achievable reality for every stood in the greater holmesian area part in particular those of low income and or first generation status  so in recognition for working to advance in higher education to promote equal opportunity and access to all students in the city of holland we would like to present the dozen a shower the social justice award in education to the social justice award in employment is given to someone who i just recently learned of his work and his advocacy and its sounds very exciting rich man as is put founder of lakeshore life works ministries a ministry or missionary outreach program which links the body of christ to aging out foster youth and street kids in west michigan rick said he grew up in a perfect home and had everything you needed he is driven to provide the same for every child life works works to fill the great commission to go and make disciples of the fatherless through housing biblical training employment and life skills the transition from foster care to aging out youth can be difficult rick's desires to prepare the aging out foster youth with many of the same opportunities that he had a so in recognition of advocacy for youth in the foster care system for but for by providing life skills to help them between housing and employment the social justice award goes is presented to r been around for a year and a half have a great mentors my wife i just want to say thank you so much for standing behind something that was very scary and but i've had a lot of help we've got some kids here from the program thanks for coming guys and we're going to move on and saying god for what he's done for this organization already so high priest it thank you that this time i'd like to introduce our present maggie rivera chairperson for the human relations commission other than to say it's an honor to take the time to actually be chosen to actually were these two different recipients these words for a very personal reason the award  that i'm going to speak of is the alliance for cultural and ethnic harmony so human relations commission is honoring a c h for the government and community relations social justice award a c h is a friendly organization that welcomes all people works to create the feeling that our communities belong to everyone the alliance for cultural not the carmen is a grassroots volunteer membership organization founded in holland in one thousand nine hundred nine to help make west michigan a place where all are welcomed and respected a c h works for justice equal appreciation for diversity and cross cultural understanding through programs partnerships publications community social events and advocacy in two thousand and three started in the community and email listing of diversity and multi cultural events and issues that it is now and and issues that are now distributed weekly to over one thousand addresses helping to network individuals organizations educational institutions businesses faith groups and others concerned with diversity and inclusion it is written weekly by and well are and its database is maintained by her husband her funding for its distribution is through constant contact is supplied by a c h dues and fundraiser so please take time to actually join a c h so tonight i'd like to have an in her or a c h come on up there's quite a few of  are right the human relations commission is honoring bronson for the housing social justice award this year and i believe there are two individuals here for jeanette if you like to just kind jeanette has been an exemplary citizen of holland who has made numerous contributions to the community as an advocate for affordable and accessible housing for all citizens her driving principle has been the development of beloved communities a terms turn polarized by dr martin luther king to describe communities where justice peace and reconciliation are promoted and where people work toward cooperation and goodwill jeanette has served on the board of jubilee ministries where she has helped that nonprofit purchase rundown homes in the core city area a task that takes a tremendous amount of patience and makes use of jeanette's extensive network of contacts in the community after the purchase is made she then markets them to any and all who might be interested in moving into the core city she is a connector who has been instrumental in bringing together jubilee and harm home corps and also works with home corps to assist in the purchase and sale of run of aged homes she is an invaluable resource to her neighbors and her community and to list a few things she is a member of the neighborhood improvement committee taskforce founding member of west corner neighbors serves with across the board an active member of the new community fourth reform church which is a racially and culturally diverse congregation located in the course of so tonight the human relations commission would like to honor jeanette stand ins and we're sorry she couldn't be with us but we're very happy that you're both here tonight and we're both going to say a few words jeannette is really regrets that she couldn't be here today but she is a language class language immersion to improve her spanish language skills so she sees that as a way that she can further serve her community but she is absolutely remarkable in the area of housing and justice for for this community and for compassion and making housing affordable and accessible for all so i know she's excited about this and it will be with you and it's a privilege to to accept this a war on behalf of jeannette actually is not and she's actually in a class but this was supposed to be her big case in time so she used her big case and to try to learn spanish which is that really speaks a lot about who she is and it's i  proud to present to the worst i got to work with there for a little bit and she has displayed accepted theory leadership skills already and this is just a short list there is much more than that she is an active member of the community and she in the final word this evening will be for a lifetime achievement social justice award and mere words are not enough i'll start with that the social justice award goes through mr ralph kicker and of course with ralph comes a great package to his lovely wife ruby so i had to give her some shout outs to hundred seventy kicker has impacted the community and how a community by furthering the cause of social justice and community corrections with consideration of racial in the equality excuse me he was the founding director of good samaritan ministries and the first full time director of community action house he then served thirty one years in the probation department of the holland district court and twenty four years as chief probation officer throughout his career he focused upon local individuals churches and agencies as having responsibility for the poor and marginalized and the rehabilitation of law violators he was a member of the board of alcohol rehabilitation and a driving force in developing the holland area coordinating council for social services agencies at the court he utilized community citizens mentors for probationers and supportive community service sentence seen as an alternative to jail in retirement he has served on the board and as a member as a mentor of the seventy time seventy program he also has served on the board of jubilee ministry his most recent he most recently served as a human relations commission and continues to assist and counsel the commission on an ongoing basis and we're happy to have him back and ralph if you  i am very honored and humbled to receive the sort i was very shocked when i stole that i was going to get it from the human relations commission but one of the things that i think it's so important in any community and i think it's very important in our community is that we have so many avenues it's of people working in the community in the cause of social justice and i think that that is the very foundation of a community is what we do with the marginalized what do we do with the poor what do we do with persons in need and i was so impressed with the people that receive social justice awards tonight and what they've been doing you know rolling up their sleeves and doing some things and  just think that that is very important and the other thing that i wanted to say and i had to say it was maggie rivera smother becky rivera was a very good friend of mine and she was one of the people that was such a driving force at community action house way back in the seventy's and throughout her career she she really worked for social justice  and i thank you again very quickly i'd like to invite you to a small reception here in the atrium please stop by and meet with your friends and make sure you get some cookies cookies and punch thank you