Lorraine Beaulieu

Award of Distinction Recipient

College of Human Ecology, May 11, 2005

Lorraine Beaulieu founded Project Union Outreach in New York City on September 13, 2001. This project was designed to provide services to the families of the unionized workers who lost their lives on September 11 at the World Trade Center, including restaurant workers employed at Windows on the World. She worked with professional experts in clinical theories and application and local community experts to plan and implement multiple family sessions using culturally and linguistically sensitive materials and interventions. Because of her leadership and expertise, graduate students in family therapy at the University of Minnesota were afforded the opportunity to participate in this service project. In addition to Project Union Outreach, she developed other community-based services for labor union workers. She organized and utilized the Building Trades Support Network to provide comprehensive educational/therapeutic services to over 1,600 workers who were traumatized by their experience at Ground Zero. AOL-Time Warner, Children's Aid Society of New York, and Project Liberty funds have been contributed to support her activities post 9-11. One person wrote, "She touched and transformed us all by serving as a role model of how one can rise to the occasion, confront their own fears in the midst of a chaotic situation, and persevere with compassion and hope. Ms. Beaulieu made the type of lasting impact on the lives of countless families and professionals in a way that is rarely observed."

Biographies are as-of time of award presentation.