Lumen Gentium Award Winner: Alan Shawn Feinstein

Posted

As suggested by their title, the Lumen Gentium Awards are meant to acknowledge good works and lives of service which can serve as a “Light to the World” and an inspiration to others. The winner of this year’s Friend of the Diocese Award has become particularly well-known throughout the state for promoting a similar philosophy — that by recognizing the good deeds our local young people do every day, we can help them foster lifelong habits of kindness and charity. Indeed, many Rhode Islanders will have a clear memory of Alan Shawn Feinstein having told them that himself, either in person during a visit to their school, or on one of the many commercials aired on local television stations which featured Feinstein, his family and a rotating selection of his Junior Scholars.
This year marks the Feinstein Foundation’s 30th Anniversary — meaning that now two generations of Rhode Islanders have grown up with a Feinstein Junior Scholar Card granting them admission to attractions like the Providence Children’s Museum and Mystic Aquarium, all in exchange for the promise to do good deeds. The Foundation has also provided a remarkable amount of material support to local schools, including local Catholic schools. Among the 175 Feinstein Leadership Schools in Southern New England are 30 institutions from the Diocese of Providence, which have shared in $30 million in donations over the past three decades.
In addition to diocesan schools, Feinstein also supports programs at both of the state’s Catholic colleges: Salve Regina University offers a wide array of community service opportunities for students through its Feinstein Enriching America Program, while Providence College serves as the home of the Feinstein Institute of Public Service.
Feinstein, now 90, remains at the helm of the organization, which he says is busier than ever. “We have several exciting programs for the upcoming school year,” Feinstein explains. “We’ll be working on a Feinstein Junior Scholar Food Pantry Program, [which will] encourage each of our Leadership Schools to create an in-school pantry for the benefit of their school communities in helping to combat hunger, with grant funding awarded to those that do.”
Education and fighting hunger have long been the major focuses for Feinstein’s philanthropy. In addition to its support for local Catholic schools, the Feinstein Foundation also regularly hosts a Million Dollar Hunger Challenge, offering resources for charities fighting food insecurity. Recipients of this funding have included parishes and organizations throughout the Diocese of Providence.