2012 Gardberg Award Given For Outstanding Support to Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy

Dec. 13, 2012 - PRLog -- Last year Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy Board of Directors established an award to recognize members of the community who assist with moving Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy mission of providing medication to the poor and uninsured. This award is named after Mr. Jonathan Gardberg because Mr. Gardberg exemplifies the spirit of Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy namesake Frederick Ozanam. Like Frederick Ozanam, the founder of the Society of St. Vincent De Paul, Mr. Gardberg is an attorney help-ing the sick and disabled with his social security and veterans disability practice. Also, like Frederick Ozanam, Mr. Gardberg did not just stand by and watch the poor suffer. Mr. Gardberg supports Ozanam with fundraising, helping to establish the agency’s first newsletter and promoting Ozanam Pharmacy in the community to bring awareness to individual who are in need of medication.

It is compassion like this that created the Society of St. Vincent De Paul. This year’s recipients’ of the Jonathan Gardberg Community Leadership Award are all from the Archdiocese of Mobile. Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy would not exist with-out the Archdiocese. The Pharmacy is sustained today because of the dedication and support that the Archdiocese provides to Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy and the pharmacy’s mission of keeping patients in Mobile, Baldwin and Escambia Counties con-nected to their medication.

The first award goes to Most Reverend Thomas Rodi Archbishop of Mobile for the Archdiocese. The next award goes to Mrs. Marilyn King, Director of Catholic Social Services and the final award is presented to Mrs. Susan Wallace for Catholic Charities. Each of the recipients play an important role in Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy’s success from the space the pharmacy occupies at 571 Dauphin Street, vital financial support through Catholic Charities to thousands of hours of case management. Ozanam Pharmacy will celebrate 15 years of success because of the Archdiocese of Mobile.

The pharmacy project was initiated by the leadership of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Mobile and Sister Judith Vander Grinten CSA (Congregation of the Sisters of St. Agnes). The Board of Directors of the Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy held its first meeting in April of 1997 and began the formal planning process to open a free pharmacy for the poor in Mobile County. Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws were drawn up and approval of 501(3) c status was granted. The Service Center of Catholic Social Ser-vices agreed to screen applicants and provide receptionist services. Start up funds were contributed by the Area Agency on Aging , St. Vincent de Paul Society of Mobile, Providence Hospital, Mobile Infirmary Medical Center, the Daughters of Charity, Alabama Power Company Foundation, the United Way Venture Grant Program, and The Service Center of Catholic Social Services. Today, the Pharmacy is thriving and moving forward in medication education and delivering life-sustaining medica-tion to our most vulnerable population. We could not continue our mission without the support of our outstanding partners from the Archdiocese,” explained the Executive Director of Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy, Shearie Archer.

For more information about Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy or the Jonathan Gardberg Community Leadership Award, please call Shearie Archer at (251) 432-4111 or visit our web site at www.ozanampharmacy.org