Caritas Veritas Award

Mimi Gorak Murray grew up in nearby Elmwood Park. During her summers Mimi was a counselor at Camp Lions for the Blind and Visually Handicapped in Northern Illinois.  It was through her experience working with this special group of kids that she learned about gratitude, optimism and resilience.

Mimi graduated in 1970 with a BA in English and moved to Hawaii in 1971 where the Navy transferred her husband, Mike.  

During their 9 years in Hawaii, Mimi was a Girl Scout troop leader, wrote for Hawaii Navy News, and volunteered for United Way.  She also had various part time jobs while raising a daughter and son mostly as a single parent, since Mike was deployed for 8 months at a time.  

The Navy transferred them to San Diego in 1980. During her 26 years with Chapman University and Brandman University, Mimi was a student advisor and adjunct faculty; she also served on boards and committees in several professional associations.  

Throughout her career and in retirement, Mimi has remained committed to volunteerism. She has followed her calling to address social justice issues: from advocating for people in the migrant, impoverished and homeless communities to supporting girls and women in reaching their potential.

Mimi considers herself a “philanthro-activist”: someone who views an issue through the lens of philanthropy and service and who takes action to address it.  

She has been an active volunteer for Girl Scouts for 54 years on both the local and national levels, currently chairing the Planned Giving Society for Girl Scouts San Diego.  

Mimi is an Ambassador for Unbound: an international organization through which she and Mike sponsor 7 friends ages 9 to 72 in Costa Rica and Guatemala.  They recently made three humanitarian visits there.  

Mimi serves on the advisory boards of her local YMCA and PATH (People Assisting The Homeless) and has initiated numerous collaborative activities between the two.  

Her commitment to PATH is personal. Their son, Michael, a Villanova and ROTC grad who served 8 years as a Naval Officer, was diagnosed as a veteran with mental illness and substance abuse disorders.  Mimi and Mike became ardent supporters and advocates for PATH and NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness) while supporting their son as best they could while he moved in and out of homelessness before his death in 2022. Mimi and Mike have since been recognized by the mayor of San Diego for their work with PATH.

Mimi is a committee member for ElderHelp,  whose mission is to help the elderly live independently with dignity. She and Mike were recognized in 2024 for their work in the community.

The Murray’s love of travel has taken them from Australia to Antarctica and from the Amazon to the Arctic Circle. While on a visit to Lima, Peru, Mimi became aware of a need for soup kitchens in the city’s poverty-stricken areas. She worked during COVID to fundraise to build six fully equipped indoor/outdoor soup kitchens that still serve the people in those communities.  

For their 50th college reunion, Mimi chaired the Class ‘70 fundraising committee. Their efforts resulted in the largest class gift to a scholarship endowment in Dominican University’s history.  

This quote from Mother Teresa reflects Mimi’s commitment:  “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”