Awards, Feb 26, 1998

The following awards have been presented for work in philanthropy, fund raising, volunteerism, and non-profit management:

Associations. The American Society of Association Executives (Washington) has given its 1998 Key Awards, which recognize outstanding achievements in association management, to the following three association executives: Bradford W. Claxton, executive director of the American Academy of Dermatology (Schaumburg, Ill.); John A. Marks, president of the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau; and Don Riggin, president and chief executive officer of the Arthritis Foundation (Atlanta).

Boards. The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (Washington) has presented its John W. Nason Award, which honors exemplary leadership in advancing college and university trusteeship, to the Board of Trustees of Adelphi U. (Garden City, N.Y.). The board’s trustees were appointed in February 1997 following a two-year period of adverse publicity and leadership crises at the university.

Community service. The Fannie Mae Foundation (Washington) has presented its new “Home Team” Community Service Award, which honors outstanding volunteer commitment, to Avery Johnson, a guard for the San Antonio Spurs basketball team. Mr. Johnson created A. J.’s Alley, a group that enables 1,000 disadvantaged youths to attend a Spurs game each season; the All-Star Connection 4 San Antonio, which provides local schools with computer equipment; and the Avery Johnson Foundation, which supports local non-profit groups. The award carries a $25,000 grant, which will be given to a housing and community-development organization of Mr. Johnson’s choosing.

The Positive Thinking Foundation (Pawling, N.Y.) has named the recipients of its 1997 America’s Awards, which honor six “unsung heroes” annually. The winners:

— David Allen of Charlotte, N.C., who ships bibles to Hong Kong, helps strangers pay their rent, and performs other “quiet acts of kindness” despite suffering from terminal cancer.

— Linda Bremner of Chicago, who founded Love Letters, a non-profit group that writes cheerful notes to terminally ill children, after losing her own 11-year-old son to cancer.

— Thomas Cannon of Richmond, Va., a retired postal worker who has given away almost $100,000 to needy people despite never having earned more than $32,000 a year during his working life.

— Eugene Helm of Chicago, who dropped out of college to care for five young nieces and nephews after they were left without a parent or guardian.

— Phil Sokolof of Omaha, a self-made millionaire who spent $9-million to create the National Heart Savers Association, a non-profit group that uses newspaper advertisements to educate the public about health issues and to pressure large corporations to reduce the fat content of the foods they produce.

— Bill Thomas of Sherburne, N.Y., who directs the Eden Alternative Foundation, which promotes innovative ideas to combat helplessness, loneliness, and boredom among nursing-home residents.

Corporate community service. The Points of Light Foundation (Washington) has presented its 1997 Awards for Excellence in Corporate Community Service to six companies: AT&T Wireless Services (Kirkland, Wash.), AXA (Paris), Chase Manhattan Corporation (New York), The Gap (San Francisco), UGI Utilities (Reading, Pa.), and the Unitrode Corporation (Merrimack, N.H.).

Education. The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (Washington) has presented its 1998 John R. Chandler Award, which recognizes contributions to private schools, to the Meadows Foundation (Dallas) for its Meadows Awards for Charitable School Projects, which encourage student volunteerism at the Jesuit College Preparatory School (Dallas). The 1998 Robert Bell Crow Award, which recognizes a fund raiser at a private school, went to Michael C. Miller, director of institutional advancement at the Masters School (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.). The 1998 Seymour Preston Award, which honors a private-school trustee, was presented to Elizabeth Heald, a trustee at both Falmouth Academy (Mass.) and the Winsor School (Boston).

The council also presented its 1998 Independent Schools Support Staff Distinguished Service Awards to Betty Altman, bookstore manager at the Brunswick School (Greenwich, Conn.); Diane English, development administrative and editorial assistant at the Head-Royce School (Oakland, Cal.); Josie Ketcham Haynes, receptionist at the Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart (Bellevue, Wash.); and Bea Movsesian, special-events coordinator and office administrator at the Dwight-Englewood School (Englewood, N.J.).

Human rights. The Reebok Foundation (Stoughton, Mass.) has announced the recipients of its 1998 Reebok Human Rights Awards, which honor human-rights activists who are aged 30 or younger. The winners:

— Abraham Gebreyesus, 27, a land-mine survivor from Eritrea who campaigns internationally to ban anti-personnel mines and who is preparing to become a disability-rights lawyer.

— Rana Husseini, 30, a journalist in Jordan who investigates, documents, and exposes “honor killings” — the murders of women by their own families as the result of suspected immoral behavior.

— Anthony (Van) Jones, 29, a graduate of Yale Law School who founded and directs the Bay Area Police Watch/Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (San Francisco), which educates citizens about their legal rights and monitors unlawful harassment and brutality by police officers.

— Dydier Kamundu, 27, a self-taught activist from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who conducts often-dangerous fact-finding investigations and advocates the release of prison detainees and victims of torture and ethnic strife in his country.

Hunger and poverty. World Hunger Year (New York) has presented its 1997 Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Awards, which recognize efforts to fight hunger and poverty in the United States, to the following 13 grassroots organizations: Atlanta Labor Pool Workers Union, Center for Housing and Urban Development (College Station, Tex.), Clanton Chapel United Methodist Church (Dulac, La.), Detroit Entrepreneurship Institute, Food from the ‘Hood (Los Angeles), the Gar den Project (San Francisco), Immokalee Friendship House (Fla.), Janus Farms Institute (Siler City, N.C.), Missourians for Tax Justice (St. Louis), Seattle Youth Garden Works, Sisters of the Road Cafe (Portland, Ore.), Wyandanch Homes and Property Development Corporation (N.Y.), and Young & Healthy (Pasadena, Cal.). Each organization received awards ranging from $2,500 to $5,000.

Non-profit leadership. The Sara Lee Foundation (Chicago) has presented its 1997 Leadership Awards, which honor non-profit groups that demonstrate creative and exemplary leadership in improving life for disadvantaged people in communities where divisions of the Sara Lee Corporation maintain facilities. The winners are Alternatives for Girls (Detroit), the Family Violence Prevention Fund (San Francisco), and Spectrum Youth and Family Services (Burlington, Vt.). Each organization received a $25,000 grant.