In a simple and discreet ceremony, accompanied by family, professionals and friends, the former president of the Junta de Castilla y León received the award in Valladolid, in the auditorium of the Envite building of Fundación Personas.
Juan Vicente Herrera also expressed his desire to be surrounded by those who were councilors of Family and Equal Opportunities in his time – Milagros Marco, Rosa Valdeón and Alicia García – as well as by the current head, Isabel Blanco.
Ángeles Garcia, president of the Board of Trustees of Fundación Personas, opened the ceremony with some emotional words: “Today we are fulfilling a dream. You know that good things in life take time… and then the pandemic put even more distance, but finally the time has come to enjoy the company of a good friend and recognize his enormous contribution to the entire disability sector.”
He continued with a review of the most important milestones for the sector, while Juan Vicente was at the head of the Junta de Castilla y León, praising his vision of the future, as well as the “constant and close support that always characterized the legislatures and that were decisive for the entities of the associative movement, the people served and the families to see the consolidation of a model of services that currently continues to be a reference at national level”.
A very special milestone that was highlighted by the president of the Board of Trustees was the support that Juan Vicente Herrera offered to Fundación Personas at its presentation to society in February 2011. “Your presence that day made it clear that the union of entities was well received by the Junta de Castilla y León to face an increasingly complex future. It was a very difficult step for the founding associations, because it was new and risky, but today, 12 years later, the foundation serves more than 2,500 people with disabilities every day, has a presence in some thirty localities in the region, including underprivileged rural areas, has 1,900 professionals (850 with disabilities) and a social base of 3,000 families. The project has become a consolidated and solvent reality that, as it could not be otherwise, is still open to new incorporations or alliances between Plena Inclusion Castilla y León entities”.
After the projection of a video tribute for the attendees, several young representatives of the different delegations of Fundación Personas took the stage to present the ‘Tree of Values’ to Juan Vicente Herrera, an award that has been handcrafted in the workshops of the entity in Zamora. Angeles García and Patricio Santana, president and vice-president of Fundación Personas, respectively, completed the ceremony.
The former president of the Junta de Castilla y León between 2001 and 2019, went up to collect the award surrounded by the warm applause of nearly a hundred attendees who gathered yesterday at this ceremony of the Árbol de Valores – Fundación Personas.
Juan Vicente Herrera dedicated a few sentences of affection and gratitude expressing his joy for the reunion with so many people, families and friends who lived unique moments with him over the years. “The great reward for me was to meet you, to walk with you, in the Marches and on the road of life, building a community richer in diversity. Learning from you to realize the idea that unity is strength and that the vision you had from Guardo, Palencia, Segovia, Valladolid and Zamora to unify efforts and structures to give strength to what really matters, to people, was an intelligent measure as it has been demonstrated and an exercise of community.
He also wanted to review the presence of those who were his family and equal opportunities counselors, taking advantage of the event to praise the wisdom of choosing the best teams and surrounding himself with people who had a sense of common project.
The final touch to the event was provided by the current Regional Minister of Family and Equal Opportunities, Isabel Blanco, who after congratulating the president emeritus, went on to thank him for his vision of the future: “I would like to thank him for his vision of the future.I would not be here today if it were not for you. You separated the Departments of Health and Social Services, you gave Social Services their own entity and their own place, you put them on the map and baptized it as Family as Equal Opportunities.”
Blanco, who was accompanied by Carlos Raúl, Manager of Social Services and Jesús Fuertes – General Secretary of Family Services. also had words for them, thanking them for their courage in continuing with him in this adventure.
And despite the efforts and good results in the community, the counselor took the opportunity to insist that, even today, Social Services are the great unknown and we must continue working together because they have been and are “the engine, the change of a society, they move consciences and generate opportunities for people and territories “.
The event was enlivened by the live music of the Ribera Quartet of the OSCYL, which has been committed to musical inclusion for 10 years, which has led it to collaborate altruistically with Fundación Personas, bringing music and art in a tour of its five delegations.
career tree of values
The `Tree of Values is the award with which Fundación Personas recognizes professional or personal careers committed to intellectual disability. The Tree symbolizes values of inclusion, equality, progress, quality of life, solidarity, innovation, respect… within the framework of the daily work that serves as an engine of social transformation.
It was awarded for the first time in 2014 and on that occasion the winner was Lorenzo González Torres for his 40 years of dedication directing Asprona and later Fundación Personas itself. In the 2015 edition, the Tree of Values went to Gustavo Martín Garzo, who has always been characterized by his involvement in inclusion projects and a very sensitive positive vision towards the most vulnerable population groups.
In 2019, the board of trustees of Fundación Personas decided to award the comic actor Leo Harlem for his extraordinary collaboration in multiple visibility campaigns, with respect and inclusive humor of the social entity.
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