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OneWorld Milagro Event – when a community comes together
to make miracles happen for those in need.

Each November, we invite our supporters to come together at our annual Milagro Dinner. This annual celebration honors OneWorld volunteers who make milagros (“miracles” in Spanish) happen for the most vulnerable children and families we serve. OneWorld provides top-quality, affordable health care to people who, because of their economic status, might otherwise fall through the cracks. With support from individuals and organizations who donate their time, we are able to create more milagros for our patients and ultimately build a healthier community for everyone.

In 2017, 41,868 individuals were able to receive care at OneWorld. With the help of miracle-makers like you, we can continue to provide quality, affordable care to all, regardless of status, identity or ability to pay. At last year’s Milagro Dinner, generous attendees, donors and silent auction participants raised $128,000 to support programs that provide essential services to OneWorld patients in need.

This year’s Milagro Dinner will take place on Thursday, November 8, 2018 and will feature guest speaker Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, founder and director of The Trauma Stewardship Institute and author of Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others.

Laura van Dernoot Lipsky is the founder and director of The Trauma Stewardship Institute and the author of Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others. She found her calling at age 18 when she regularly spent nights volunteering in a homeless shelter. Since then, she has gone on to work with survivors of child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, acute trauma of all kinds and natural disasters.

Laura holds a master of social work degree, and after working directly with trauma survivors for more three decades, she is now widely recognized as a pioneer in the field of trauma exposure. Much of her work is being invited to assist in the aftermath of community catastrophes like fatal storms or mass shootings. She has worked nationally and internationally with diverse groups of people such as zookeepers; reconstruction workers in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans; community organizers and health care providers in Japan; U.S. Air Force pilots; Canadian firefighters; public school teachers; private practice doctors; staff at the Pentagon; and students at alternative colleges and Ivy League universities.

A decade into her career, Laura experienced what can best be described as a near-psychotic break, which, she came to realize, was the result of years of witnessing and being intimately involved in trauma while lacking insight into how to sustain herself amidst such conditions. As a part of her recovery process, she began a journey of inquiry into the lasting effects of trauma on both individuals and communities. Since then, she has studied the effects of exposure to suffering, hardship, crisis and trauma on humans, other living beings and the planet itself.

Laura has also long been active in community organizing and movements for social and environmental justice, and she regularly speaks about issues surrounding systematic oppression and liberation theory. She founded and served as director of a Spanish-language preschool guided by a curriculum in social and environmental justice. She is on the advisory board of ZGiRLS, an organization that supports young girls in sports, and she is a founding member of the International Transformational Resilience Network, which supports the development of capacity to address climate change. Additionally, Laura served as an associate producer of the award-winning film A Lot Like You, and she was given a “Yo! Mama” award in recognition of her work as a community-activist mother.

Ruben Cano,
Omaha South High School

Ruben Cano is currently the principal at Omaha South High Magnet School and has served in this role for four years. Omaha South is one of the largest high schools in the state serving close to 2,700 students and over 300 certified and non-certified staff.

In his four years at South, Mr. Cano has led an effort to use data to systematically identify students eligible to participate in programs and resources offered by South and/or its community partners. During his tenure scholarship dollars earned by students has increased, reaching a peak of 16 million earned by the class of 2017. Coinciding with these numbers, the percentage of students applying to two-year and four-year institutions reached 64% for the class of 2018. Mr. Cano attributes this success, as well as others, to his dedicated staff and to the community partners that serve the students and families of Omaha South High Magnet.

Mr. Cano began his teaching career in 2004 at Omaha South High School as a Social Studies teacher before earning his master’s degree in administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Mr. Cano is originally from Las Cruces, N.M. and a graduate of New Mexico State University and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Dr. Peter Silberstein

Dr. Silberstein is Division Chief of Hematology and Oncology and Professor of Medicine at Creighton Medial School/Alegent and Chief of Oncology at the Veterans Administration Hospital. He is past president of AVAHO (Association of VA Hematology/Oncology).

Dr. Silberstein graduated Summa Cum Laude from Amherst College and Phi Beta Kappa. He completed medical school at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Internal Medicine Residency at the University of Iowa and his Hematology and Oncology Fellowship at the University of Minnesota. Board certifications include Internal Medicine (1982) and Medical Oncology and Hematology.

Honors include Alpha Omega Alpha, 1979, Dr. Louis A. Sklarow Award 1979, Sigma XI 1975, Phi Beta Kappa, Best Doctor in America 2005 -2013.

Dr. Silberstein is the faculty for Creighton’s innovative Partners in Cancer program for first and second year medical students who become a patient navigator for one cancer patient. He has been awarded the Creighton School of Medicine Dedicated Teach Award and Distinguished Service Award and has three times received the James F. Sullivan Award for excellence in Education of Medical Residents. He has mentored numerous students and residents to present at national meetings and publish their findings.

He is married to Michele, a Nurse, and has two daughters: Emily and Julie. He is passionate for access to health care for all, and is strongly supportive of OneWorld which in his opinion provides excellent care.

Women’s Fund of Omaha,
Brenda J. Council

Brenda J. Council is a native of Omaha, Nebraska. Upon graduation from Omaha Central High School (1971), Ms. Council enrolled at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she earned a Bachelors of Science Degree, With Distinction, in Secondary Education in 1974. Ms. Council received her Juris Doctor Degree from Creighton University in 1977.

Ms. Council began her legal career in 1977 as a Field Attorney with the National Labor Relations Board in Kansas City, Kansas. She returned to Omaha in 1980 to accept a position in the Legal Department of Union Pacific Railroad. During her 18 year tenure with Union Pacific Railroad, Ms. Council served as Senior Contracts Counsel, Senior Real Estate Counsel and Senior Labor Counsel.

Ms. Council left Union Pacific Railroad in 1998 to join the Kutak Rock law firm. She was a partner at Kutak Rock when she left in 2002 to join the law firm of Polk, Waldman, Wickman & Council. Ms. Council was associated with the Whitner Law Firm, P.C., LLO, in an “Of Counsel” capacity, from 2004 until 2009.

Ms. Council was admitted to practice in the federal, district, county and juvenile courts in the State of Nebraska. She was also a member of the bar of the United States District Court for the Districts of Colorado and Wisconsin, the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Circuits, and the United States Supreme Court. Ms. Council was appointed as a judge on the Nebraska Commission of Industrial Relations in 2001 and served until 2005. She taught the Labor Law course one semester at Creighton Law School.

In addition to her legal career, Ms. Council established herself in the political and civic arenas. She was elected to represent the 2nd District on the Omaha Board of Education in 1982 and served for 11 years. Ms. Council was the first African American elected President of the School Board, serving in that capacity for four (4) terms. Ms. Council was also elected and served as President of the National Caucus of Black School Board Members.

Ms. Council is the only African American woman to ever serve on the Omaha City Council, having been elected in 1993. She served on various City Council committees and was elected to represent the City Council on the Douglas County Land Reutilization Commission.

Ms. Council unsuccessfully campaigned for mayor of the City of Omaha in 1994. Undaunted, Ms. Council ran for mayor again in 1997, losing by less than 800 votes.

On the day that history was made nationally with the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States America, Ms. Council was a part of making history in the State of Nebraska by being one of the first African American women ever elected to serve in the Unicameral. As a State Senator, Ms. Council represented the 11th Legislative District and was a member of the Agriculture, Business and Labor, Judiciary and Education Committees.

Ms. Council’s community and civic involvement includes current membership on the board of directors of the Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance (OHKA), Boys and Girls Club of Omaha, and the Charles Drew Health Center Foundation. Ms. Council’s previous board service included United Way of the Midlands, Urban League of Nebraska, New Community Development Corporation, Nebraska Community Foundation, and the Susan A. Buffett (now Sherwood) Foundation.

Ms. Council served for over 6 years as the facilitator of the Omaha Superfund Community Advisory Group (CAG), which provided input to the EPA on the remediation action and advocated for the creation of OHKA. Omaha is the largest residential Superfund site in the nation.

Ms. Council currently serves as the Adolescent Health Manager for the Women’s Fund of Omaha, where she leads a community-wide effort to prevent STDs and teen pregnancy.

Ms. Council has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors including Outstanding Young Omahan and Nebraskan, the Nebraska State Bar Association’s Professionalism Award, Elizabeth Pittman Award presented by the Creighton University Law School and the Black American Law Students Association, the Urban League of Nebraska National Prominence Award, the University of Nebraska Alumni Association Award, the A+ Award presented by the Omaha Public Schools, the African American Leadership Award presented by the Durham Museum, the Public Citizen of the Year Award presented by Nebraska Assoc. of Social Workers, the Spirit of Advocacy Award presented by NOCCC, and the Champion of Change Award presented by NOAH. Ms. Council also has the distinction of having been featured in three editions of Ebony magazine (including One of the 50 Young Leaders of the Future and Husbands of Powerful Women).

Ms. Council and her husband of 33 years, Otha, have an adult son and five grandchildren.

For more information or sponsorhip opportunities please contact Fundraising and Events Specialist Kelsey Scroggin at (402) 502-8940 or at kscroggin@oneworldomaha.org.

The Milagro Dinner is made possible thanks to our sponsors and silent auction donors.

2018 silent auction donors:

A Hill of Beans
Alaffia Beauty
Andrea Skolkin
B.E. Happe Designs
Borsheims Fine Jewelry and Gifts
Callaway Golf
Creighton University Ticket Office
Dr. Joel Schlessinger and LovelySkin
Envoy, Inc.
James Arthur Vineyards
Jason’s Deli
Karma Yoga
Kendra Scott
Lansky’s
Lauritzen Gardens
Lazlo’s Brewery & Grill/FireWorks Restaurant
Lied Lodge & Conference Center at Arbor Day Farm
Nothing Bundt Cakes
Omaha Community Playhouse
Omaha Entrap Games
Opera Omaha
Papio Fun Park
Spaghetti Works Restaurant
Spezia
Ted & Wally’s
The Rose Theatre

Sponsors current as of 9/6/18