Boston community leader, global humanitarian is honored with major human rights award

BOSTON-The Rev. Gloria White-Hammond, a minister, pediatrician, and community leader, and whose selfless dedication to human rights has transformed the lives of thousands at home and abroad, has been named the 2008 recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award by the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.

What: A special celebration and award presentation sponsored by UUSC, an international human rights organization based in Cambridge, Mass.,will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948.The event will also feature a keynote speech on the state of human rights in the world, "The legacy of the UDHR: Where do we go from here?", by William F. Schulz, chair of UUSC's Board of Trustees and former executive director of Amnesty International USA.

When:December 10, 2008, from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Where: Boston Public Library (Rabb Lecture Hall), 700 Boylston Street, Copley Square, Boston.

Admission: The event is free and the general public is welcome. Reservations are recommended at rsvp(at)uusc(dot)org, or 617-301-4346. Hosts for the celebration include prominent social justice advocates from the Greater Boston area.

Charlie Clements, UUSC's president and CEO, said Rev. White-Hammond embodies Eleanor Roosevelt's belief that "universal human rights begin in small places, close to home...such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, and equal dignity."

"Gloria's work as a healer reaches from Dorchester to Darfur, from Boston's South End to South Sudan," said Clements. "We are pleased to give the first Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award to someone whose life personifies Mrs. Roosevelt's deep compassion for the least among us and UUSC's mission to advance human rights and social justice at home and around the world."

The award, named after the principal architect of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948, will be presented by Linda Mason, founder and chair of the national early childhood education organization Bright Horizons Family Solutions, headquartered in Watertown, Mass., and also is the board chair of the international humanitarian relief agency Mercy Corps, based in Portland, Oregon. Mason has traveled with White-Hammond to southern Sudan and Darfur on humanitarian and human rights missions.

Rev. White-Hammond has been the co-pastor, with her husband Ray, of BethelAMEChurch in Boston, since 1997 and a pediatrician at the SouthEndCommunityHealthCenter since 1981. She has a long history of involvement in community service. She is the founder of and consultant to the church-based creative writing/mentoring ministry called "Do The Write Thing" for at-risk black adolescent females.

Her work as a humanitarian has achieved global impact. She has worked as a medical missionary in several African countries including Botswana, Ivory Coast, and South Africa. Since 2001, Rev. White-Hammond has made numerous trips to southern Sudan where she was involved in obtaining the freedom of 10,000 women and children who were enslaved during the two- decades-long civil war. In 2002 she co-founded My Sister's Keeper, a humanitarian women's group that partners with women of Sudan in their efforts toward reconciliation and reconstruction of their communities.

"Gloria has been a Boston, Massachusetts and national leader in the efforts to end the genocide in Darfur, tirelessly mobilizing people across this country and the world to believe they can make a difference," said Clements. "And whether she's with at-risk teenagers in Dorchester, refugees in Chad, or political leaders from around the world, whose conscience she's trying to stir, she speaks to their dignity and worth." She currently serves as national Board chair of the Save Darfur Coalition, an alliance of more than 180 faith-based, advocacy and human rights organizations, including UUSC.

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, founded in 1940 to help rescue victims of Nazi persecution, advances human rights and social justice around the world, partnering with those who confront unjust power structures and mobilizing to challenge oppressive policies. UUSC's current programs focus on advancing economic justice, promoting environmental justice, defending civil liberties, and protecting rights in humanitarian crises such as the ongoing genocide in Darfur.

All are welcome to the UDHR celebration. Reservations are recommended at rsvp@uusc.org, or 617-301-4346. For more information, visit www.uusc.org/rightsnight .

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Note to Editors, Managers, News Directors: You are cordially invited to attend and cover the 60th Anniversary Celebration and Award Presentation. For more information or assistance in arranging interviews or photos either in advance, during or after the event, please contact Dick Campbell, UUSC, at 617-301-4370; 781-337-6463; or via e-mail.