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UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., and his wife, Beverly, will be presented with the Jason Award on Tuesday night at a Children’s Square U.S.A. dinner in Council Bluffs, Iowa. |
A reception will begin at 6 p.m. followed by dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets for the event are still available through today. Cost is $100 per person. Reservations can be made by calling 322-3700.
The Maurers and two other prominent area couples will receive the Jason Award from Children’s Square U.S.A., an organization dedicated to providing care, education and treatment services for more than 425 children and families a day.
Children’s Square U.S.A.’s main campus is located in Council Bluffs with programs and services also offered in Sioux City, Iowa, and Omaha. The organization is 123 years old.
Other recipients of this year’s Jason Awards are: Ted Kooser, a Pulitzer Prize winner for his poetry who just finished a two-year term as the U.S. Poet Lauerate, and his wife, Kathleen Rutledge, editor of the Lincoln Journal Star, of Garland, Neb.; and Dr. Robert and Marylin Looft of Council Bluffs. Dr. Looft is the founding president of Iowa Western Community College, and Marylin Looft is former president of the Children’s Square U.S.A. board of directors.
The Jason Award is a 14-inch bronze sculpture showing a young boy running full tilt toward the future. It was modeled after a photograph taken of a 4-year-old Children’s Square student, Jason Schumann, as he ran across the campus. Jason’s joy, energy and vitality are symbolic of the “spirit of youth” that lies within each Jason Award recipient.
The award stands as a symbol of the value placed on children and the awesome responsibility adults have in preparing them for the future, said Carol Wood, president and CEO of Children’s Square U.S.A.
The award recognizes individuals, couples and organizations for demonstrating an extraordinary degree of commitment to children, families and communities or to a cause that benefits children, families, communities and the country, she said.
“Our 2006 award recipients truly exemplify all that Children’s Square U.S.A. stands for – the importance of education, the values of caring, contribution and commitment, and the skills of vision, courage and will,” Wood said. “Individually and as couples, they have pioneered educational, medical and literary advancements, brought recognition to local communities, the Midwest and nationally and even internationally. Their accomplishments and lives well-lived are lasting legacies that will benefit children, families, communities and countries for generations to come. They bring together mind, body and spirit reflective of our holistic approach at Children’s Square U.S.A.”
The 425 children served by Children’s Square U.S.A. range in age from birth to 21 and are from communities across Iowa and eastern Nebraska. This year’s event is dedicated to John Fernandez, M.D., the Children’s Square medical director and psychiatrist who died in 2005 after serving the organization for 16 years.
Previous Jason Award honorees include Bill Cosby, Eddie Rabbit, Walter Scott, Jr., Lou Holtz, Charlie Pride, U.S. Rep. Tom Osborne, Michael and Gail Yanney, M.D., U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson and former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad.
Honorary co-chairs for this year’s event are the Yanneys and Dr. Dan and Pam
Kinney.