SSND honored at Good Counsel event
November 4, 2008
Catholic PRWire
New York, N.Y. – Miss Nellie J. Gray, co-founder of the annual “March for Life” in Washington, D.C., the largest, longest-running civil rights event in United States history, will be appearing at a gala awards celebration to be held in New York City.
“I am eager to speak with the press,” says Miss Gray. “I am so full of information right now, I am very anxious to share it.”
Miss Gray has been invited as a special guest to attend the 12th Annual Good Counsel Awards Celebration, to be held at the 3 West Club, 3 West 51st Street, New York, N.Y., on Thursday, November 6, 2008.
Born in Big Spring, Texas, Miss Gray served as a Corporal in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II, graduated from Texas State College for Women with a Masters Degree in Economics in 1948, attended Georgetown University Law Center, and in 1959, was admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia.
Miss Gray served in the United States Department of State and Department of Labor for a total of 28 years. In 1963, she was admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court of the United States. She retired from federal service in June, 1973, and began working as a full-time volunteer for Pro-Life interests. Miss Gray will be available for interviews, beginning at 5:00 P.M., in the Lincoln Room of the 3 West Club. All members of the media are invited to attend.
“Her appearance at this event is a great honor for Good Counsel,” says Christopher Bell, Executive Director of Good Counsel homes, the organization sponsoring this conference. “She has been a matriarchal presence for the Pro-Life movement since it came to national prominence in 1974. She has a message for whoever is elected President. Believe me, they will be powerful and pointed words.”
Mr. Bell and Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., co-founded Good Counsel homes in 1985. Mr. Bell will be present at the awards celebration and will field questions from the media.
Good Counsel, Inc. is a private Catholic agency whose primary mission is to help homeless pregnant women, by providing a loving family environment in a safe and secure shelter. Over the past 23 years, Good Counsel homes has helped more than 5,000 women and children, and has grown from one to five homes, serving women and their babies throughout the New York Tri-State area.
Sister Mona O’Connell, SSND, will be honored at this year’s Awards Celebration for her tireless work with Good Counsel mothers and children, and for her dedicated years of service to God and the Pro-Life movement. In addition to Sr. O’Connell, a former Good Counsel mother, now living independently and working to support herself and her child, will also be honored. Past recipients of this award have been The Honorable Robert P. Casey, former Governor of Pennsylvania, The Honorable William E. Simon, former Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, Hope Carter, philanthropist and Dame of Malta, Wellington Mara, President and co-owner of the New York Giants Football Club, The Most Reverend Celestino Migliore, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, and Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York.
For more information about the organization involved, please visit www.goodcounselhomes.org.