Five members of the Los Angeles Catholic community who have extensive and distinguished records of service were announced last week as recipients of the 2009 Cardinal's Award.

The honorees representing all five pastoral regions are:

---Kathleen Hannon Aikenhead of Corpus Christi Church, Pacific Palisades, and executive director of the William Hannon Foundation (and niece of the late founder, a 1994 Award recipient). The foundation supports Catholic education.

---Christopher Alders, of Holy Family Church, South Pasadena, and active in the development and support of scholarship and outreach programs for Catholic schools in economically challenged neighborhoods.

---Dr. Leo Lagasse, of Our Lady of Malibu Church, Malibu, and co-founder of Medicine for Humanity, a worldwide volunteer organization focusing on women's medical care and medical education in underserved countries.

---Virginia Schneider, of St. Lawrence Martyr Church, Redondo Beach, and a mother of 11 children. She volunteers extensively at her parish and at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance.

---Vin Scully, for nearly 60 years the voice of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers, who attended Catholic school in New York, graduated from Fordham University, and is a parishioner of St. Jude Church in Westlake Village.

The 20th Annual Cardinal's Awards Dinner, to be held next Feb. 7 at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland in Hollywood, will benefit early childhood education at Blessed Sacrament Church in Hollywood.

The 2009 honorees bring to 99 the number of men and women honored with the award. Since 1990, more than $6.8 million has been raised to support more than 70 schools, parishes, charities or relief efforts in all pastoral regions of the archdiocese. For the past two years, archdiocesan and lay leaders involved with the annual dinner have focused on raising funds for early childhood education at low-income parishes.

Preschool focus
Cardinal Roger Mahony presented the 2009 honorees at a luncheon held Sept. 9 at San Antonio de Padua Preschool Academy in Los Angeles (Boyle Heights).

The newly constructed preschool is set to welcome three- and four-year-old preschoolers in early October. The former parish elementary school has been converted into a parenting center offering parents family health education and classes in English, citizenship, computers and parenting skills.

The project was the beneficiary of support from the Ahmanson, Hilton and Shea Foundations, the 2007 Cardinal's Award Dinner, and Catholic Charities.

"We're taking this complex and making it into a multi-family use to teach children to be eager about education," said Cardinal Mahony. "Everywhere around them they are learning, so that when they get into school they will be eager to continue learning."

The three-classroom preschool will be run by Franciscan Sisters who have long directed Poverello of Assisi Preschool.

"The Franciscan Sisters have a superb preschool in the San Fernando Valley. They do a magnificent job of preparing children for school," said Sister of Charity Mary Elizabeth Galt, archdiocesan chancellor. "These little children, when they walk through the gates, are going to truly have a rich environment."

San Antonio de Padua Preschool is the first inter-parochial preschool in the archdiocese serving young people from the parishes of San Antonio de Padua, Assumption, Our Lady of the Rosary of Talpa and St. Mary.

"We're very grateful to have been invited to be pioneers," Sister Mary Magdalene Acuņa, director, told The Tidings.

"We plan to integrate academics with having fun," added Sister Leticia Villegas, one of the teachers.

Preschoolers will learn their numbers, colors, and letters of the alphabet in rooms filled with toys, books, puppet show materials and clothing to play pretend. On touring the rooms, even Cardinal Mahony bent on his knees to check out a toy.

Each schoolroom is proudly Catholic with religious statues and dolls among the toys. A Mother Teresa doll sits near the puppet show stage.

"Christ is the center of our school here," said Sister Acuņa. "We want to help them grow in the love of God, love of themselves and one another."

For information and reservations on the 2009 Cardinal's Award Dinner, call (213) 637-7636.