From the Mass of Thanksgiving, Associated Catholic Charities
November 4, 2006, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

The Edward F. Barry Award is an annual recognition of an outstanding philanthropist, business or organization that has supported the mission of Associated Catholic Charities. Recipients are commended for their vision in strengthening our community's institutions to ensure that all of God's people may have a quality life. The award honors Barry, an attorney who was one of the city's greatest philanthropists until his death in 1984. He served on the executive board of St. Peter Home, for which his estate established a trust fund, and chaired several building fund campaigns, including St. Jude CHildren's Research Hospital, St. Agnes High School, St. Joseph Hospital and Saint Francis Hospital.

When an elderly patient at St. Peter Villa, a new Refugee arrival or a Katrina evacuee has an emergency need for eye care, call Southern Eye Associates and they respond.

Southern Eye Associates was established by Dr. Cathy Schanzer in 1990 to provide quality comprehensive medical and surgical eye care to the greater Memphis and tri-state area. Medical Director Dr. Cathy Schanzer and her husband Tom Lewis have shared their vision, talents, and resources with Associated Catholic Charities, the greater Memphis community and the world in many arenas.

Active participants in the community, Southern Eye Associates annually sponsors fundraising activities that support organizations whose missions promote social justice, equality, and equal access to resources. Tom and Cathy have served on the Board of Directors for Catholic Charities and St. Peter Villa, and they consistently lend financial and spiritual support to all of the programs of Associated Catholic Charities.

Southern Eye Associates often extends the use of its office space and staff to facilitate training and community awareness information at no cost to people in need. The passion and dedication to providing access to quality eye care for everyone has taken the Southern Eye Associates staff around the world, specifically to Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and most recently, Sierra Leone, where they have established a permanent eye clinic and surgical center.

Around the office of Southern Eye Associates, the response to a need doesn't involve long discussions but the sight of a dedicated group of men and women quietly by rolling up their sleeves and getting to work.

The can-do spirits of the Southern Eye Associates staff are embodiment of the example set forth by Edward F. Barry in his efforts to strengthen organizations that uplift the human condition.