Six outstanding individuals will receive the 2010 Gerry and Bob Virgil Ethic of Service Award at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 15, in the Knight Center.
Founded during Washington University’s Sesquicentennial year in 2003-04, the Ethic of Service award annually recognizes select members of the university community who exemplify a character of service and giving to the St. Louis region.
This year’s winners are Reginald Gray, a staff member in Mail Services; Harold Y.H. Law, DSc, WUSTL alum (engineering, 1975); De Andrea Nichols, a senior in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts; Joanna Perdomo, a junior majoring in Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology in Arts & Sciences; Katie Plax, MD, a pediatrician and director of the Adolescent Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; and Julia Warren, an MD/PhD student in the School of Medicine.
Reginald Gray and his wife, India, started the nonprofit agency We Win for Kids. The agency is devoted to helping kids with a parent or parents who are in prison but also to any young person who needs someone to listen, to understand or to care.
Harold Y.H. Law came to the United States as a Chinese refugee in 1956. He is one of the founders of the St. Louis Christian Chinese Community Service Center, and, for the past 47 years, he has been providing voluntary services to the elderly, immigrants and underprivileged in the Chinese/Asian community in the St. Louis area.
De Andrea Nichols, set to earn a degree in communications design from the Sam Fox School in May, was instrumental in the formation of Connect 4, a student group that focuses on the four principles of diversity, diaogue, change and understanding.
Joanna Perdomo is a program leader for Natural Ties, an organization that helps plan fun and interactive events for adults with intellectual disabilities. She also serves as the family coordinator for the St. Louis Night Off Program, which provides volunteer babysitting services to families who have children with autism.
Katie Plax brought together area youth organizations to create a welcoming drop-in center in the Central West End called The SPOT. Opening its doors in September 2008, The SPOT served more than 1,700 individual youth in its first year — more than three times its goal.
Julia Warren has dedicated herself to a number of organizations that promote health education and access, particularly for women and populations that are underserved.
For more information and complete biographies of this year’s honorees, visit ethicofservice.wustl.edu.