Winners honored
See Keep the Dream Alive Award recipients
The Martin Luther King Jr. Multicultural Council has announced the winners of this year’s Keep the Dream Alive Award, presented to individuals and organizations that have contributed to keeping King’s dream alive through volunteer work and other activities that benefit people and communities.
This year’s recipients are:
WINGS FOR L.I.F.E. INTERNATIONAL
About 30 years ago, Ann Edenfield Sweet went from being a married business owner with four small children to being an outcast with limited funds after her husband was convicted of a felony and sent to prison. Sweet turned her circumstances into a positive experience with the creation of the nonprofit Wings for L.I.F.E. International, which helps the families and children of people who are incarcerated.
The organization has provided weekly dinners for families and tutoring sessions for children, and has worked to keep families together through activities in the prison that include worship, singing, crafting and eating together. Strengthening these family ties has been crucial to the success of the family after a loved one is released from prison.
The organization now works with families and prison populations throughout New Mexico and the country, as well as families and prisoners in several foreign countries.
FORMER U.S. SEN. JEFF BINGAMAN
A native of Silver City, Jeff Bingaman’s lifetime of public service includes four years as attorney general of New Mexico and 30 years in the U.S. Senate. At the time of his retirement in January 2013, Bingaman was chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and served on the Finance Committee, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the Joint Economic Committee.
In retirement, Bingaman was a Distinguished Fellow with the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford Law School, and he taught a seminar on national policy and the Congress in the Honors College at the University of New Mexico.
MICHELLE GONZALES
Volunteer extraordinaire Michelle Gonzales demonstrates that the efforts of one person can make a difference. Gonzales, along with her husband and two daughters, has donated time at Roadrunner Food Bank, Joy Junction and at UNM Hospital’s Mariposa Center, where she collected and wrapped presents for ill children. She also helped create the “For the Kids” Smith’s Food and Drug Charity Golf Tournament to benefit UNM Children’s Hospital, and started her own “Bowling for Kids” tournament fundraiser.
A breast cancer survivor, Gonzales has donated countless hours to the local Susan G. Komen Foundation, where she served on the board of directors, provided support to women struggling with breast cancer, and helped organize the local Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.