The Lauzie Award

The Lauzie Award, named in honor of Laura Gallagher -- mother of Calling All Crows' co-founder, Sybil Gallagher -- is given annually to honor an individual who embodies a true spirit of service and inspires others to do the same. Each year, we look to honor someone who shared Laura's spirit: a spirit of giving, a spirit of lifting others up to their potential, and a spirit of loving friends, family, and all whom she encountered.  

2014 Recipient

We are honored to announce that the 2014 recipient of the Lauzie Award is Nadia Alawa, Founder and President of NuDay Syria, a non-profit organization focused on bringing humanitarian aid inside Syria and to help displaced Syrians in the bordering areas around Syria. They are especially concerned with the lack of safe shelter and living for single mothers with daughters.

NuDay Syria focuses on improving individual displaced people’s quality of life and facilitates educational and micro-financial opportunities in order to help ensure financial independence and a means for individuals to eventually be able to help others, both financially and motivationally.
 

Calling All Crows is incredibly impressed by Nadia's dedication to providing relief for those affected by the conflict in Syria. Her commitment to this cause spurs us on to engage the music world in the ongoing dialogue and raise awareness of struggle, while keeping an eye towards opportunities for action. As long-time activists, we share NuDay Syria's desire to aid those who are suffering and look for ways to fuel empowerment and social change, especially for women. 

Past recipients:

• 2009 - Charlie Rose, City Year, Inc.
• 2010 - Cynthia Gabriel, Amnesty International
• 2011 - Martina Davis-Correia, death penalty abolition activist
• 2012 - Judy and Dennis Shepard, Matthew Shepard Foundation
• 2013 - Ambassador Swanee Hunt, Hunt Alternatives Fund

Remarks from the first program:

One doesn't need to look far to understand the impact that Laura Gallagher, Sybil’s mom, had in this world.  

The vibrance with which she lived her life was remarkable. She had the loudest laugh and biggest heart and the foulest mouth of anyone i'd ever met. But of all that she gave to us, what I learned most was that in her life time she lived for others. She celebrated her family, their friends, their friends' friends, and everyone she worked with with such fervor and genuine excitement that it is not hard to figure out why she became a mom to so many others besides her children. She had an insatiable capacity to love--the biggest kind of love you can imagine. You can see it in her kids and those that they've inspired. As if it rubs off like pixie dust.

She was the first person to call if you were in trouble--never judging, she just listened and then dolled out the just right advice.

Tonight, for the first time we will be presenting the annual Calling All Crows award in honor of a woman who encouraged her children to serve others, and someone who made love and celebrating all those in her life a top priority. Each year we will be honoring someone with The Lauzie Award to recognize those that share her spirit. The spirit of giving, the sprit of lifting others up to their potential, the spirit of loving friends and family so much that it hurts and having a ball all the while.