Jefferson Awards

Bay Area Winner Honored with National Award

Jefferson Award Winner: Lia Rowley

WASHINGTON (CBS 5) ― Bay Area Jefferson Award winner Lia Rowley has been honored with a national public service award for her work in creating the Children's Village of Sonoma County.

Lia, profiled in January 2007 by CBS 5, KCBS All News 740, and The San Francisco Chronicle, traveled to Washington this month to attend a three-day celebration with dozens of regional Jefferson Award winners from around the country.

At a black tie gala at Union Station, Lia was surprised to be named one of five winners of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award for Public Service Benefiting the Local Community.

"I had no idea!" Lia exclaimed, when she joined the presenter on stage in front of a crowd of about 500. "Someone asked me would you have done that if you had known how much work it was. If I had known the outcome, I would have said yes. But I think if I hadn't known, I would have said no, because I wouldn't have thought I was capable of doing it. And I wasn't. And I was actually very naive in thinking that something like this could be created."

Lia spoke highly of her extraordinary team of volunteers at the Children's Village, where they worked together to build a unique neighborhood where a family setting could be established for children in foster care.

At the Children's Village, special emphasis is placed on preventing a foster child from having to move from place to place. Siblings are placed together to keep family units as intact as possible. Surrogate grandparents live on site to provide everything from ice cream trips to homework help. To help, visit the link on the upper right side of this page.

The Jefferson Awards is a national organization founded in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Senator Robert Taft Jr., and presidential aide Sam Beard. Five regional winners are honored each spring with the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award for Public Service Benefitting the Local Community.

To read Lia's entire acceptance speech, continue below:

Lia Rowley, June 17, 2008, Washington, DC

"I had no idea. Totally surprising. I had no speech. But I've been thinking a lot these last few days about all of you and all of us and thinking how we all started this. And when I started it, I had no idea what I was in for. And I think that's probably true for all of us here, that we started something and we didn't know what we were going to be doing at all. Someone asked me would you have done that if you had known how much work it was. If I had known the outcome, I would have said yes, but I think if I hadn't known, I would have said no because I wouldn't have thought I was capable of doing it. And I wasn't. And I was actually very naive in thinking that something like this could be created, you know? Just because you want it? And just because you know it needs to be there? But because of the community that helped me and came forward. Our Children's Village is truly a community effort and done by volunteerism, almost all the way, and it's been an incredible effort by many, many people. So I guess for me it was just taking a step out, taking a big risk, and ignoring all the other feelings of fear that come when you start something like that. And I think that many of you here probably have the same feelings so all I can say is let's all keep going, right? And inspire others to do it and step outside and out of the comfort zone and I thank you very, very much. I had absolutely no idea that this was going to happen! It's wonderful, thank you."

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)