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CUA Tower Magazine
$1 Million Opus Award Finalist Named - Seniors Visited Charitable Organizations Over Summer to Confirm Jury Selections
Aug. 31, 2007

The three finalists for the Opus Prize, a $1 million humanitarian award for excellence in faith-based social entrepreneurship that will be awarded at the University on Nov. 8, were announced Thursday.

Finalists were selected by a jury of ten prominent individuals, including Wolf Blitzer, Tim Russert and George Stephanopoulos in March, but kept secret until now. University seniors visited the locations of the final organizations selected over the summer and helped shape recommendations to the Opus Foundation Board of Trustees. The winner of the $1 million prize and two $100,000 awards will be announced in early November.

Nominated for the prize were Rev. John Adams, president of So Others Might Eat (SOME), Brother Constant Goetschalckx, founder and director of Africa Health and Development International Institute in Tanzania and Rev. Noberto Carcellar, executive director of the Homeless People's Federation Phillippines. These three finalists were selected from a group of about 20 organizations that were recommended to University President Rev. David M. O'Connell by 'spotters' around the world.

The Opus Group, a $1.4 billion real estate company, is the company tasked with building the $25 million upperclassman residence Opus Hall. The Opus Prize Foundation is a philanthropic organization founded by the Opus Group in 2002. The Opus Prize, founded in 2004, annually honors an 'unsung hero working on the front lines of today's most dire social challenges.' Opus has previously partnered with three other Catholic universities to present the award: The University of San Francisco, Marquette University and the University of Notre Dame.

Over the summer, seniors Anthony Buatti, Tori Engelstad and Jon Meyer visited the locations of the three organizations on 'due diligence trips' to learn more about the work they did. These seniors were selected by the Opus Prize Administration Oversight Committee because they 'demonstrated an abiding interest in service and their faith,' and are 'all active members of the Catholic University community with strong academic records,' said Victor Nakas, chairman of the committee and associate vice president for Public Affairs.

'As an architecture major with an interest in housing issues, Tori was a logical choice for the Homeless Peoples' Federation Philippines,' said Nakas. 'Jonathon is a biochemistry major with an interest in health care and that is one of SOME's areas of outreach. Anthony is a history major with an interest in education and AHADI's focus is distance education.'

Buatti, from Downingtown, Pa., spent eight days in Tanzania, which is on the eastern coast of Africa in the great lakes region. The AHADI Institute educates refugees from the war-torn countries of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi by providing post-secondary training via a distance learning program and instruction for 500,000 students studying for their high school diplomas. In Swahili, AHADI means 'working toward the fulfillment of a promise.'

Accompanying Buatti on the trip was Emmjolee Mendoza-Waters of Campus Ministry, as well as two members of the Opus Foundation Board of Directors. Don Neureuther, a representative of the Opus Foundation, went on all three trips.

Engelstad, from Bradley Beach, N.J., flew to Quezon City, Manilla in the Philippines and visited the Homeless People's Federation. Carcellar, the Vincentian priest who runs the organization, caters to the poor who live in the area around a garbage dump called Payatas. People there make their living shifting out medal and plastic from the dump and selling it to junkyards. The Federation encourages these families to microfinance by saving one peso, or about two cents, per day.

Bill Jonas, director of University Center, Student Programs, Events, and two members of the Opus Foundation Board of Directors also visited the Federation.

'A lot of the poor become complacent in these towns,' said Engelstad. 'The Federation encourages them to find a better life for themselves. Father Carcellar has faith in those that he helps, and the women working in the foundation are able to interact with the people the best because they have been in their situation.'

Amazed by the conditions the residents of Payatas live in, Engelstad said they 'have about eight family members living in a house the size of a room in Spellman.'

Meyer, from Torrance, CA, stayed in the district and visited SOME. Rev. John Adams, president of the organization, started there in 1978 when it was just a soup kitchen that fed 50 to 60 people per day. Today, SOME serves more than 800 people in their dining room and also offers medical, dental, mental health and addiction treatment programs. They also offer transitional housing, long term housing, family housing, job training and services for the elderly.

'What affected me the most was observing the passion and love that I saw in the employees and volunteers,' said Meyer. 'They seemed so selfless and humble in performing their jobs and it didn't even matter if the client was ungrateful. Overall, it was a very humbling and inspiring experience.'

According to Buatti, Engelstad and Meyer, the University will host a variety of events related to the Opus Prize in the weeks and days leading up to the ceremony including movie series and lectures. These events will be open to all students. The ceremony itself will take place in the Pryzbyla Center and is by invitation only.