This year I have been awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor Global Humanitarian Award for the year 2008. This award, to a non-US citizen, was presented at a special ceremony on Ellis Island, New York on Saturday 10^th May 2008.  

The Global Humanitarian Award is presented to individuals who has distinguished himself/herself for their outstanding commitment to the people of the world. These individuals are recognized for their significant contribution to humanity. The United States Senate and House of Representatives have passed resolutions officially recognizing the National Ethnic Coalition of Organization’s Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

The award ceremony was held on Saturday, May 10, 2008 at Ellis Island in New York.

The prize was granted by NECO (National Ethic Coalition Of Organizations Foundation), whose Ellis Island Medal of Honor has been recognized as one of America’s most prestigious awards.

NECO was created in 1984 on the conviction of its founder, William Denis Fugazy, that the diversity of the American people is what makes the nation great.

NECO is a non-profit organization with strategic alliances that support a range of diverse programs and insure that every dollar spent goes to creating a better world in the future for all. Each year since 1986, NECO has sponsored the Ellis Island Medals of Honor. The Medals are presented on Ellis Island, in a dramatic ceremony, to citizens of diverse origins for their outstanding contributions to their communities, their nation and the world. Past Ellis Island Medal of Honor recipients include six Presidents of the United S tates, Nobel Prize winners, athletes, artists and others whose work has made a lasting impact.

NECO has renewed its commitment to working closely with its medalists in2007 and beyond to fulfil its goal of creating the world of the future today. Among the past medalists: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Elie Wiesel, Nobel Prize recipient/author, Muhammad Ali, Former Heavyweight Champion of the World, Amin J. Barakat, M.D, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics of the George Town University Medical Center, Joe Di Maggio, Baseball Hero, Martin Scorsese, Sayed Jemal Houssein-Afghani, Warrior-Poet and Humanitarian, Frank Sinatra and many others.  NECO advocates for positive change in the present by forming partnerships with outstanding organizations that serve a variety of communities and cultures here and abroad. NECO has teamed with Boys Hope Girls Hope, The National Italian


American Sports Hall of Fame, The Chinese Cultural Center, GOAL