[Press Release] : Diversity Award Winners

[pr-l at news.gocolumbiamo.com]

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Office of Community Services - (573) 874-7488 (v/tty) or
Public Communications - (573) 874-7220

Rev. Lorenzo Lawson, Show-Me Central Habitat for Humanity named
diversity award winners

COLUMBIA, MO (January 12, 2006) -- Rev. Lorenzo Lawson, was named the
winner of the individual award and Show-Me Central Habitat for Humanity
was the organizational winner of the 9th Annual Columbia Values
Diversity Awards. The awards were given at this morning's Columbia
Values Diversity Celebration at the Holiday Inn Select Expo Center.

The awards are given to an individual/family and an organization/group
who have made significant contributions in promoting appreciation for
diversity and cultural understanding in Columbia. This is the ninth year
for the awards.

Rev. Lorenzo Lawson
Lawson was nominated by his employer, Linda Green, of the Boone County
Community Partnership where he is the executive director of the Youth
Empowerment Program, specifically for his work with the Disaster
Recovery
Center and generally for the work he does every day in our community
through his church, Chosen Generation Ministries.

Lawson was born in Columbia and raised by his grandmother. He attended
Douglass High School when Columbia's school system was still
segregated. He transferred to Ridgeway, then Jefferson Junior High and
on to Hickman High School where he dropped out in the eleventh grade to
work full time to help support the family. He received his GED in 1976
and a B.S. in sociology from St. Louis University in 1992.

As a teen, Lawson lived the life of many youths who grew up in
impoverished circumstances. For awhile, Lawson was involved in wasteful
activities.

In 1992 he became a minister and started his own church in 2000,
Chosen
Generation Ministries, which meets at the Blind Boone Center. His
ministry is to reach out to those who are on a destructive path to show
them they can experience joy, hope and abundance. Lawson is married to
Clemmie Beatrice Grimes and has two sons and one stepson.

Lorenzo was one of many local residents who were moved by the impact
of
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the lives of families taking refuge in
Columbia. The difference is that he went much farther through personal
action to ensure each person and family received what they needed to
recover from the storms rather than just experience temporary relief. He
campaigned for the opening of a disaster recovery center and worked many
hours in service delivery. He gave each evacuee his personal cell phone
number and responded to calls about the needs 24 a day. In the words of
one evacuee, "Lorenzo is wonderful!"

He worked tirelessly to help each person and family get connected with
the
resources they needed. He operated from, and made sure everyone
working
operated from, a philosophy that all persons are deserving of our very
best.
Through Lorenzo's efforts and willingness to lead, he created
greater
understanding for all of us, evacuees and citizens of Columbia, about
what
racial equality should mean. Like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Lorenzo
bridged differences and promoted understanding and brought much peace
to
individuals who had no peace. When presented with a choice of chaos or
community, he chose to create community out of chaos and teach all the
rest
of us how to do it as well.

Show-Me Central Habitat for Humanity
Show-Me Central Habitat for Humanity organization had their first
fundraiser, a pancake breakfast at the Columbia United Church of Christ
in 1988, raising about $700. In February 1989, a single mother and her
three children moved into their new home, thanks to Habitat.

For a period of years the organization built two homes a year with the
help of about 300 volunteers doing the construction work. Having
expanded the number of community fund-raising events and the number of
participating citizens, staff was hired and the pace of construction
increased to five families yearly. In 1999, with the assistance of an
estate, a building was completed that housed the Habitat office and
provided space for a ReStore - a store for recycling used building
supplies and appliances. It is estimated that 60 tons of materials are
kept out of the Columbia landfill thanks to the ReStore.

Personal dignity and responsibility of client families are further
enhanced
by the requirement that, in order to achieve home ownership, they
complete
250 to 350 hours of "sweat equity" and that they purchase their
home with a
down payment and loan that must be repaid.

Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Habitat's goal is to provide
dignity, positive
self-image and standing in the community to low-income people
regardless of
race, religion or national origin.

- 30 -
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Archived press releases can be viewed online at: 
http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/Public_Comm/Public_Information/Press_Releases/

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