The 2008 Seeds of Hope Dinner will be held on Monday, December 8th, at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. This year, we are proud to honor Anne Mulcahy, CEO of XEROX. Please saev the date, and check this page again soon for more information.
About our 2007 Honoree, Elie Wiesel
Concern Worldwide US held its eleventh annual “Seeds of Hope” Dinner on Wednesday, December 5, 2007 at the Ritz-Carlton Battery Park in New York City. The event was historic not only because it was the best attended “Seeds of Hope” to date, with some 520 guests filling the hotel’s Manhattan Ballroom to capacity.
The evening’s most historic and memorable moment came when 42-time Emmy Award-winning journalist
Ted Koppel introduced the night’s honoree, his good friend, Nobel Laureate
Elie Wiesel. When Professor Wiesel spoke, the audience fell completely silent, captivated by his appeal for remembrance, compassion, and active engagement on behalf of victims of poverty and oppression. He spoke of his own experience of suffering and of the experiences of other victims of genocide, war, and torture. The suffering of the victim, said Professor Wiesel, is made most intolerable by the idea that “no one cares.” Wiesel defined the real meaning of “concern,” and cited the biblical imperative to “be concerned” about the suffering of fellow human beings everywhere.
Concern Worldwide US Chairman Tom Moran was moved to invite Professor Wiesel to be this year’s honoree after an August visit to Concern operations in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He remarked, “In both countries, I walked among people who can’t help but be haunted by their own nightmarish experiences. I found myself wondering how anyone could survive these horrors. As I thought about it, I realized that they can survive—they must survive. I thought of Elie Wiesel, who has not only survived the Holocaust, but also used those horrific memories to remind the world of its responsibility to all people.”
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Professor Wiesel was presented with the “Seeds of Hope” Award, a sculpture commissioned by Concern in recognition of Professor Wiesel’s life and achievements. The piece, entitled “Caring” was sculpted from a 5,600 year-old section of extremely rare bog oak from Ireland by artist Helen Coneely and a team of artists at Ireland’s Celtic Roots Studios. Mr. Moran, Mr. Koppel, and Concern Worldwide CEO Tom Arnold lifted the Award and together presented it to Mr. Wiesel between two prolonged standing ovations by the Dinner guests.
Concern’s CEO Mr. Arnold closed the evening with a short address in which he commented, “Tonight, we are in the presence of greatness: moral greatness.”
Other highlights of the evening included an invocation by one of Concern’s founders Aengus Finucane, introductory remarks by Chairman Moran, and a powerful 6-minute video by Concern volunteer Jimmy Garland, introduced by Concern Worldwide US Executive Director Siobhan Walsh. The video included segments on Concern’s work in Bangladesh, Tanzania, DRC and the humanitarian crisis Ms. Walsh witnessed in war-torn Chad, as well as praise for Concern by U2’s Bono.
Preparations are already underway for next year’s “Seeds of Hope” Dinner, which will be another historic occasion, marking Concern’s 40th Anniversary!