Harvey Kaplan (’74) receives Open Avenues Foundation’s 2018 Humanitarian Award
Open Avenues Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded by Jeff Goldman and family, hosts a cocktail reception to benefit the reunification, housing and mental health care of immigrant families, at the InterContinental Hotel Boston. Enormous thanks to Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Boston and Boston Medical Center for stepping up as presenting sponsors.
Open Avenues Foundation recognizes four tireless advocates for immigrants’ rights, with the 2018 Open Avenues Humanitarian Awards. Honorees: Dr. Lin Piwowarczyk, co-founder, Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights at BMC; Dr. Ruth Bersin, executive director, Refugee Immigration Ministry; and immigration attorneys Harvey Kaplan (’74) and Howard Silverman.
Gratitude goes out to two remarkable families: Sirley Paixao and her son, Diego, and Jose Oliverio Diaz and his son, Hugo. These children and parents, beneficiaries of Open Avenues Foundation, were unconscionably separated from each other by the U.S. government amid its 2018 “zero-tolerance” border policy. These families’ words and their belief in the values of the United States never cease in moving others.