The Welcoming Center will celebrate its 20th anniversary on Monday, April 24 with its annual event, the Solas Awards. Each year, during the Solas Awards, the Welcoming Center honors “the contributions immigrants have been making in our city and region.”

This year’s honorees are Anne O’Callaghan, Anuj Gupta, and Patrick Eiding. All three had a hand in the beginnings of the Welcoming Center. 

Anne O’Callaghan is the founder of the Welcoming Center, who moved to the United States from Ireland in 1970. 

She founded the Welcoming Center in 2003 to help the wider immigrant community. O’Callaghan was inspired to do this while volunteering at the Irish Immigration Center. 

While there it took her three weeks to help a Chinese woman who spoke limited English find green card information and ESOL classes for her son. 

She said the difficulty she had helping the woman, “Really pushed me to do something that would be in a central place where people could get access to the information that they needed.”

Anuj Gupta began attending the Welcoming Center's board meetings when he was a graduate student.

“[Philadelphia] has a history of some really strong, impactful nonprofit organizations serving immigrant communities, like HIAS Pennsylvania and the Nationalities Service Center,” Gupta said. 

He continued, “What we didn’t have was an organization that works on the integration side once they’re here, helping them build their economic mobility, helping them build their skill sets, helping them feel welcome, frankly. And The Welcoming Center started to fill that giant void.”

He has most recently served as the Chief of Staff to U.S. Congressman Dwight Evans. 

Patrick Eiding served five terms as the President of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO before retiring. He also provided the original office space for the Welcoming Center. 

“Going back to the day that Anne walked in the door, I was fairly new. I started that job in January 2002. Of course if you know Anne O’Callahan, once you’re there, you’re there. I mean she was astonishing — how quick she grew this thing. Then all of a sudden she needed more space.”

“We had a lot of years together. And of course the relationship between [us] just grew. Anything she wanted, if I could do it, I would,” he added.

The 2023 Solas Awards event will be held at the World Live Cafe from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here, and costs start at $75 for general admission.