ANNOUNCEMENT: The 2025 Victor Obadia Humanitarian Trophy Nomination Application is now available! You’re invited to join us for the 5th Victor Obadia Humanitarian Trophy Ceremony in Washington, DC. This year’s event will offer attendees with an opportunity to recognize a special person that has helped our community and mingle with other leaders and volunteers during cocktail hour. The ceremony date will be announced soon.
The Comité Tricolore created the VICTOR OBADIA HUMANITARIAN TROPHY in memory of our first President. For more than forty years, Victor Obadia worked tirelessly to introduce French culture, co-found numerous non-profit organizations to build relationships in the French and American communities, and raise funds for those in need in the Washington, DC area.
In order to carry on Victor’s legacy, the Comité Tricolore is proud to introduce the Victor Obadia Humanitarian Trophy in recognition of our friend Victor who dedicated his life strengthening ties in the French-American community. This trophy is presented every year to an outstanding individual to honor their achievements, benevolent actions and principles of generosity and compassion.
The Trophy
The Victor Obadia Humanitarian Trophy will be presented by the President of the Comité Tricolore to the selected laureate at an Award Ceremony at the French Embassy in Washington, DC, in November. The laureate will also be recognized in an official announcement that will appear in the Comité Tricolore’s newsletter. In addition to recognizing this outstanding individual, the Comité Tricolore hopes this award will encourage others to serve their community.
Victor Obadia was the first importer of coffee, espresso machines and French fine goods in the DC area. The unique design of the trophy pays homage to Victor Obadia’s career and incorporates his initials: the shape of the cup is a V and the handle is an O. Sharing a cup of coffee is a symbol of communality. (Design: J-P Krukowicz; manufactured by LR-Paris)
The Eligibility Requirements
The applicant must be:
• A French humanitarian living in the DC, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania region whose benevolent actions serve either his/her local community OR a humanitarian of any nationality supporting the French or French-American community
• A reliable, and discreet individual acting with humility
• An individual recognized by her/his peers for her/his generosity and ethics.
NB: Members of the Comité Tricolore or their immediate family are not eligible for nomination.
The Nomination Process
If you know of an individual who meets the following criteria, we invite you to submit an application by September 30, 2024.
The call for nominations is now open.
The application can be completed online (preferred): Application form 2025
or downloaded here (WORD document):
Completed forms should be submitted on line or sent via email to the President of the Comité at: president@comite-tricolore.org by September 30, 2025.
The Evaluation Process
All applications will be evaluated by the Comité Tricolore’s Victor Obadia Trophy Subcommittee. This subcommittee will make a recommendation to all members of the Comité Tricolore who will vote to determine the year’s laureate of the Victor Obadia Trophy.
Please help us share this wonderful opportunity with friends and acquaintances who may know anyone who would meet our criteria. If you have any questions, please contact president@comite-tricolore.org.
Sponsorship opportunities!
Please contact us: president@comite-tricolore.org
We thank LR-Paris for donating the Trophy, Stephanie Obadia from Avid Core and Michel Laudier from Fairfax Realty for sponsoring the Ceremony
Below: Information about the first four Victor Obadia Humanitarian Trophy laureates and ceremonies for 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021
The 2024 Victor Obadia Humanitarian Trophy laureate is Madame Marie-Claude Genovese
The 2024 VOHT Award Ceremony and cocktail hour took place on December 2 at 6 PM at the Maison Française, Embassy of France in Washington, DC. Pictures of the event are in our Photo Album page: https://www.comite-tricolore.org/Albums-photos
About the Victor Obadia Humanitarian Trophy laureate for 2024: Marie-Claude Genovese
Having lived in the United States since 1988, I joined the Lycée Rochambeau in 2001, where I worked in the school’s Vie Scolaire department for 22 years. Community service has become a new vocation for me: fundraising walks for the homeless with Friendship Place, donations to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital thanks to the Talent Show, food drives for Manna Food Center, yellow coin drives for Tracy’s Kids, which offers art therapy to children with cancer. In addition, numerous student and teacher initiatives have led to donations for Emergency USA, NIH Children’s Hospital, UNICEF, Haiti, Congo, Malawi, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Lebanon and many others. It was the enthusiasm and energy of the children and teachers, and the support of the families, that carried me through this mission.
Marie-Claude Genovese was nominated by Mme Christiane Ciccone, retired teacher from the Lycée Rochambeau and member of the Comité Tricolore.
An example of Marie-Claude’s work: For the 15th annual food drive for Manna Food Center, the Rochambeau students collected 1,542 lb of food:
The 2023 Award Ceremony took place on Nov, 2023
The 2023 laureate of the Victor Obadia Humanitarian Trophy is: Chef David Deshaies
David Deshaies with Victor Obadia at the Dîner du Siècle in 2019
Chef David Deshaies, a 2023 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic, grew up working in his uncle’s restaurant in the Loire Valley of France. He worked in Michelin-starred restaurants across France and Spain before heading to the States in 2001 to join celebrated chef Michel Richard at his flagship Citronelle in Washington, DC, where he eventually rose to executive chef. In 2017, he opened Unconventional Diner in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood, earning a Bib Gourmand designation from the Michelin Guide the following year and several RAMMY awards since, including Deshaies being named Chef of the Year by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) in 2020. In fall 2021, Deshaies opened glam Italian restaurant L’Ardente in downtown D.C. It was recognized by RAMW as a 2022 Best New Restaurant finalist, and in 2023, L’Ardente ranked No. 3 on Washingtonian’s well-respected list of the area’s 100 Very Best Restaurants and won a RAMMY award for Upscale Casual Restaurant of the Year. Then in May 2023, Deshaies opened Love, Makoto—an ambitious Japanese culinary collection with two full-service restaurants, a bar and a fast-casual spot—He is also the managing partner of Central Michel Richard, a French brasserie in Downtown DC. Deshaies lives in Alexandria with wife, Ana—the award-winning pastry chef of Unconventional Diner—and their daughter, Vikki.
David was a great friend to Victor Obadia and supported the Comité Tricolore’s charitable mission for two decades.Since his arrival in the DC area approximately 20 years ago, he has always devoted his personal time to numerous charities including St Jude’s hospital and Bread for the City. He has cooked many dinners in the DMV area for charitable organizations and donates many meals to residents of a Friendship Place Home.
This year’s special ceremony offers guests an opportunity to celebrate as
Madame Jacqueline Abrams
is presented with France’s National Order of Merit, one of the highest honors provided by the French government.
Madame Abrams was a dear friend of Victor Obadia’s and a dedicated member of the Comite Tricolore. Victor was a member of France’s National Order of Merit and President of the AAMFOM, organization representing awardees in the USA.
Jacqueline Abrams Bio in french and in English:
Jacqueline Abrams at work at the Church fair in October 2023 ans as Mother Christmas for WAA in December 2022
The second Award Ceremony took place on Dec 12, 2022
Mrs Anne-Stein-Schneider is the Victor Obadia Humanitarian Trophy laureate for 2022
Anne Stein-Schneider
Anne Stein-Schneider was born and raised in France; she arrived in the United States in 1962. She has served the French community in Washington, DC with her whole heart and enthusiastically for the past 60 years. As the wife of Pastor Herbert Stein-Schneider, she helped their fellow compatriots and Francophiles members of the French Protestant Church until Herbert’s death in 1990. She then continued volunteering for the French Protestant Church, the Wednesday lunches, Le Cercle Français, The Club de l’Amitié France-Internationale, Vielles Maisons Françaises, Washington Accueil Association and has been part of the Board of the French Protestant Church for the past 20+ years.
Anne received in 2010 from France the decoration of “Chevalier de l’ordre national du Mérite” (Herbert also received the “Chevalier de l’ordre national du Mérite” in 1987).
Anne Stein-Schneider’s Biography "A life of Giving":
- Anne Stein-Schneider
The 2022 Victor Obadia Humanitarian Trophy was awarded to Anne Stein-Schneider by the president of the Comité Tricolore at the French Embassy on December 12,2022. Opening remarks by M. François Penguilly, Consul -General of France.
Click here to see the Photo-album of this event
The first Award Ceremony took place on Nov 2, 2021
Marie-Yasmine Auclert is the Victor Obadia Humanitarian Trophy laureate for 2021.
Marie, a French citizen, is rewarded for her voluntary work for three different organizations. She is co-leader of GRE (Groupe Reflexion Ecoute), a support group for French and francophone expats in the DC area and she is co-leader of the Piano Bar for a good cause, which raises money for various causes. She is a volunteer local representative for Mayan Hands, a nonprofit dedicated to providing economic and educational opportunities to Mayan women and girls in Guatemala.
Marie’s biography:
The 2021 Victor Obadia Humanitarian Trophy was awarded to Marie-Yasmine Auclert by the president of the Comité Tricolore at the French Embassy on November 2, 2021. Opening remarks by M. François Penguilly, Consul -General of France.
Click here to see the Photo-album of this event
VOHT Subcommittee members: Michel LAUDIER (Head), Eve CHAUCHARD, Etienne DAILLY, Stéphanie MACE-OBADIA, Yahne MIORINI
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