Sister Marilyn Lacey Awarded Annual Janet Gray Hayes Award
San Jose City College presented Sister Marilyn Lacey with the annual Janet Gray Hayes Award on March 22 for her achievements in helping displaced people of the world.

Since 1987, SJCC has given the award to a woman who has been an inspiration and role model, said Virginia Scales, Dean of language arts.
The award gets its namesake from Janet Gray Hayes, first female mayor of San Jose.

“SJCC is especially proud that Mayor Hayes has chosen SJCC to give out the award,” said Scales.

This year’s recipient, Sr. Marilyn Lacey, began her career as a Math teacher. In 1979, she responded to a bulletin board posting looking for volunteers to help refugees. That experience led her to work at Catholic Charities of San Jose for 21 years as director of refugee services.

Sr. Lacey has written a memoir entitled “This Flowing Toward Me: A Story of God Arriving in Strangers”, and has been recognized as an “Unsung Hero of Compassion” by the Dali Lama.

Sr. Lacey said that her current project, Mercy Beyond Borders, is aimed especially to help the women and girls in refugee camps of Sudan.

“Welcoming strangers is the path to joy,” said Sr. Lacey. “I felt drawn to work with the women and children. They get left behind. I thought, ‘What can I do for the world’s worst off women? Go to Sudan.”

“When we asked the refugee women ‘What do you need?’ they all said ‘Educate our girls’,” said Sr. Lacey. “We are getting scholarships for girls who have never had permission to go to school. We are confident things will change over time.”