2008

$1 Million Opus Prize Winner
Marguerite “Maggy” Barankitse
Maison Shalom
Burundi, Africa

Maggy Barankitse formed Maison Shalom or, “House of Peace,” in 1993 as a safe haven for children and orphans, including children soldiers, who have survived civil unrest and violence in the war-torn country of Burundi. Located in central Africa, Burundi has a long history of ethnic strife between the Tutsis and Hutus. Only recently did Burundi emerge from more than 12 years of civil war, leaving 300,000 dead. Since its beginning, Maison Shalom has grown into a multi-functional service agency including a hospital that has helped in the healing and support of 30,000 young people and families. Maison Shalom is centered on education, health, vocational training and reconciliation and strives to change the lives of children to better the lives of all Burundians.

$100,000 Opus Prize Finalists:

Michael Woodard
Jubilee House Community & Center for the Development of Central America (CDCA)
Nicaragua

Krishnammal Jagannathan
Land for Tillers’ Freedom (LAFTI)
India

2007

$1 Million Opus Prize Winner
Brother Stan Goetschalckx
AHADI International Institute
Kigoma, Tanzania

Brother Constant Goetschalckx, F.C., founder and director of AHADI International Institute, Tanzania, leads this organization with a Swahili name that means “working toward the fulfillment of a promise.” AHADI 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 26,000 students per year studying for their high school diplomas.

$100,000 Opus Prize Finalists:

Father John Adams
So Others Might Eat (SOME)
Washington, D.C.

Homeless People's Federation Philippines
Rev. Norberto Carcellar representing the Homeless People's Federation
Quezon City, Philippines

2006

$1 Million Opus Prize Winner
Dr. Zilda Arns Neumann
Pastoral da Criança
Curítiba, Parana, Brazil

Dr. Zilda Arns Neumann, a pediatrician who founded and leads Pastoral da Criança (the Pastoral of the Child), an innovative public health program that works with more than 265,000 volunteers to help poor families in her native Brazil, will receive the third annual Opus Prize in a Nov. 8 ceremony hosted by the University of Notre Dame.

$100,000 Opus Prize Finalists:

Sister Ann Kendrick
Office for Farmworker Ministry
Apopka, Fla.

Father John Foley
Cristo Rey Network
Chicago

2005

$1 Million Opus Prize Winner
Rev. Trevor Miranda, S.J.
Reach Education Action Programme (REAP)
India

Rev. Trevor Miranda founded and runs a system of 450 literacy centers in India known as the Reach Education Action Programme. Students discover an oasis of opportunity that stands in stark contrast to the bleak factories and garbage dumps in which they otherwise would be forced to work. REAP has also grown to include training programs for women to learn valuable professional and life skills and to develop the conviction that they can be agents of social change in their families and communities.

$100,000 Opus Prize Finalists:

Dr. Juliana Akinyi Otieno
Kisumu, Kenya

Rev. William Wasson (deceased)
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos
Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

2004

$1 Million Opus Prize Winner
Monsignor Richard Albert
Helping Hands for the Poor, Inc.
Kingston, Jamaica

In 1976, Monsignor Richard Albert arrived in Kingston, Jamaica, from the Bronx, NY. Intent on breaking the vicious cycle of poverty in Jamaica, Msgr. Albert has spent 27 years establishing a vast network of charities and institutions that provides Jamaica's poor with the basic services and skills that have transformed the lives of thousands.