Headliners
A Night to Remember
 More than 450 people gathered on Jan. 27 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Miami as Barry University honored Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning, his wife Tracy and Dr. Pedro Greer with its Faith and Freedom Award as part of Barry’s annual Founders’ Ball.
Each year the Founders’ Ball raises thousands of dollars for student scholarships. This year’s event, which had a 1940s theme with the slogan “Swing in ’07,” raised more than $140,000.
The Faith and Freedom Award recognizes men and women whose work and actions have embodied the shared religious values of civility, mutual respect and justice while addressing controversial and challenging issues. Past recipients include Monsignor Brian Walsh, Sen. Bob Graham and Sister Jeanne O’Laughlin, OP, PhD.
The Mournings were honored for their numerous contributions to the community, including co-founding the Honey Shine Mentoring Program for girls; providing more than 400 foster children with gifts every holiday season; establishing Zo’s Fund For Life, a program designed to raise $4 million for kidney research and to help provide medication to poor families; co-founding the Overtown Youth Center to inspire and empower youth and families; and creating Zo’s Summer Groove, which raises money for various organizations that support abused and neglected children.
Dr. Greer, who is in private practice in Miami and serves as assistant dean of academic affairs at Florida International University’s College of Medicine, was recognized for his long history of community service with Camillus House, which provides humanitarian services to the indigent and homeless populations of Miami-Dade County. He has served as an advisor to the Clinton and Bush Sr. administrations, was the first dean of homeless education at the University of Miami’s School of Medicine. In 1994, “Time” magazine named him as one of “America’s 50 Young American Leaders Under 40.” That same year he was also honored by CBS/Newsweek for his achievement in medicine. In 1995, he was named “Doctor of the Year” for Teaching by the magazine Hippocrates: Health and Medicine for Physicians. |
