The McKnight Foundation honors Dee (Dolores) Stang Cotten ’47 by awarding her the 2006 Virginia McKnight Binger Award in Human Service. “These are some of the real heroes and heroines of our society. They simply see people in need, and come to their assistance,” state the McKnight Foundation regarding the annual winners of this award.

Dee (Dolores) Stang Cotten ’47 receives this honor for her work on affordable housing, food for those of little means, elimination of racism, restorative justice and other community service. “My mom always said ‘hard work never killed anyone.’ I’ve been working since I was eight years old, and I can’t stop now,” says Dee.

That certainly is true. Cotten’s father died when she was eight, and she helped raise her six younger siblings. She graduated from St. Mary’s Nursing Program is 1947, and worked for 40 years as a nurse. In 1997, she received an alumnae service award from the College.

After her retirement, she served at the Greater Lake Country Food Band and then at Metropolitan Interfaith Council On Affordable Housing (MICAH), dedicated to the prophetic mission of Micah 6:8: “To do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.”

Dee is MICAH’s office manager and fundraiser and also volunteers at Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish, is chair of her tenants’ association and serves on the Minneapolis Advisory Team for Restorative Justice, conferencing with misdemeanor offenders. Dee explains, “I didn’t like the criminal things they were doing in the downtown area and it’s my home, so I decided to do something about it.”

Dee is one of ten recipients chosen from fifty nominees. She was recommended for the award by the director of MICAH, Mayor R.T. Ryback, the Greater Lake Country Food Bank, the Central Community Housing Trust and her parish. The Virginia McKnight Binger Award is presented in honor of its namesake, who exhibited an enduring spirit of compassion, humility, and generosity.

For more information, visit the McKnight Foundation Web Site.