Last Tuesday, the Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende- Midday named Olivia Muñiz Rodríguez Citizen of the Year for 2013.
The Farley W. Wheelwright Citizen of the Year award, now in its seventh year, is given to individuals who stand out for their leadership and service to society. Born in San Miguel de Allende, Olivia Muñiz is a schoolteacher by trade and dedicates her life to providing food to the needy. In 1995, she was recruited by Feed the Hungry, a local charity organization, and her mission was to develop the organization’s central program: to feed the schoolchildren of the
city’s poorest communities.
As the organization grew, by 2008, she was promoted to program director, and was assigned the immense task of designing a program that would reach a larger number of people. With unmitigated devotion, Olivia Muñiz took an association with only three kitchens and in only a few years, extended it to 30.
Highly organized and efficient, these kitchens combined provide 3,500 nutritious lunches to children in need every day. Most of the meals are served in schools located in the rural communities along the outskirts of San Miguel de Allende. If it were not for these programs, many of these children would be forced to attend class on empty stomachs. “I’m not alone in this endeavor, I work with a team of great people, with whom I would like to share this recognition,” Olivia Muñiz Rodríguez commented to the Rotary members last Tuesday during her acceptance speech at the event, held this year at the Hotel Misión El Molino.
Several speakers took to the podium, including philanthropist Robin Loving Rowland, who received this esteemed award in 2009. She acknowledged the previous recipients of the Citizen of the Year award, congratulating Olivia and these brilliant role models for today’s society. Olivia Muñiz’s service to the community of San Miguel primarily centers on the logistics involved in serving healthy meals to children, from the purchasing of the food to the distribution of the complete dishes, totaling over 700,000 meals per year—a fairly hefty task, to say the least.
The event was delightfully completed by musical duo Johnny Favourite and Fil Formicola, with Alex Gutiérrez on keyboard. Dedicating songs like “Unforgettable” to the afternoon’s guest of honor, Olivia Muñiz Rodríguez, the singers made a last minute variation on Paul Anka’s classic song “My Way,” altering the finale to: “She did it her way!”
