HAMMOND—The Honorable Diane K. Schneider, presiding judge for the Lake County Superior Court, Room One, in Hammond received the 2005 Indiana Commission for Women (ICW) Torchbearer Award for Advocacy at Saint Margaret Mercy's Hammond campus on Friday, Jan. 20, 11:30 a.m.

A life-long advocate for youth and the elderly, Judge Schneider has distinguished herself as a respected person of vision and action. She is part of numerous state and national efforts to improve lives of women and their families through the law, including the Indiana Supreme Court Commission on Race and Gender Fairness and the National Association of Women Judges. Under her leadership, Saint Margaret Mercy's Volunteer Advocates for Seniors Program was established in Lake County and serves as the model volunteer limited-guardian program to aid society's forgotten and at-risk incapacitated elderly across the state.

Saint Margaret Mercy's Volunteer Advocates for Seniors will host the event. ICW commissioners, Senator Sue Landske and Representative Linda Lawson, along with ICW executive director Sharon Langlotz, were invited to present the award.

The ICW annually honors the efforts of Hoosier women who have overcome or removed barriers to equality or whose achievements have contributed to making the state a better place in which to live, work or raise a family. Of the many women who are nominated, one is recognized each year with the Indiana Torchbearer Award for her outstanding contributions in her area of achievement.