Awards, May 04, 2006

The following awards have been presented for work in advocacy, fund raising, nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, and other areas.

Community service. USA Today (Arlington, Va.) has named Zina Bethune as its inaugural Hollywood Hero for her work with Infinite Dreams, a program of her Bethune Theatredanse company (Los Angeles). Infinite Dreams is a dance and drama outreach program for disabled and at-risk youths in Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Orange County, Calif.

Corporate responsibility The Stern School of Business at New York U. has presented its 2006 Stewart Satter Entrepreneur of the Year Award to Scott Berrie, co-founder of Scojo Vision and president of the Scojo Foundation, both located in New York. Scojo Vision designs and distributes fashionable, affordable reading glasses, and the foundation trains local entrepreneurs to give basic eye exams and sell low-cost glasses in communities in El Salvador, Guatemala, India, and elsewhere.

At its recent meeting in São Paolo, Brazil, the World Summit of Young Entrepreneurs gave its Corporate Social Responsibility Award to XanGo (Lehi, Utah), which markets a beverage that contains mangosteen, which is said to have anti-oxidant properties. XanGo was honored for its support of various charities worldwide, including donations to Operations Kids (Salt Lake City) and its efforts to help rebuild a fishing village in Thailand devastated by the 2004 tsunamis. The summit is co-sponsored by the United Nations Special Unit for South-South Cooperation (New York).

Environment. The Goldman Environmental Foundation (San Francisco) has presented its 2006 Goldman Environmental Prize to grass-roots environmental activists from six world regions. The winners, who each received an unrestricted stipend of $125,000:

— Africa. Silas Kpanan’Ayoung Siakor (Liberia), who helped expose evidence that Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president, had used profits from rampant logging to help finance the country’s brutal civil war, evidence that helped lead the United Nations Security Council to ban the export of Liberian timber as part of wider trade sanctions.

— Asia. Yu Xiaogang (China), who has created innovative watershed-management programs while studying and documenting the socioeconomic effects of dams on Chinese communities.

— Europe. Olya Melen (Ukraine), a lawyer who has used legal methods to temporarily halt construction of a massive canal that would cut through the heart of the Danube River’s delta, one of the world’s most valuable wetlands.

— Islands and Island Nations. Anne Kajir (Papua New Guinea), who uncovered evidence of unchecked, illegal logging that is destroying the largest remaining intact block of tropical forest in the Asia-Pacific region, and who is using her legal expertise to force the logging companies to pay damages to indigenous landowners.

— North America. Craig E. Williams (United States), a veteran of the Vietnam War who helped persuade the Pentagon to stop plans to incinerate aging chemical weapons stockpiled around the country and has built a coalition that advocates safe solutions for their disposal.

— South and Central America. Tarcisio Feitosa da Silva (Brazil), who has worked, despite death threats, to help local groups in northern Brazil create protected lands for local residents and has exposed illegal logging activities to the Brazilian government.

Nonprofit leadership. The William E. Simon Foundation (New York) has presented its 2006 William E. Simon Prize in Philanthropic Leadership to Richard DeVos, co-founder and former president of Amway, and his wife, Helen, for their philanthropy. The Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation (Grand Rapids, Mich.) primarily supports churches, ministries, and Christian schools in Florida and western Michigan, along with Focus on the Family, the Heritage Foundation, and other conservative organizations working on public policy and social issues. In addition, the foundation presented its 2006 William E. Simon Prize for Social Entrepreneurship to Eunice Kennedy Shriver, executive vice president of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation and founder and honorary chairperson of Special Olympics, both located in Washington. Each prize carries a $250,000 award.

Volunteerism. The United Way of America (Alexandria, Va.) has awarded the 2006 National Alexis de Tocqueville Society Award to Peter and Gail Ochs of Newport Beach, Calif. Peter Ochs is chairman of the Fieldstone Corporation, which develops residential real estate, and founder and chairman of the Board of the Fieldstone Foundation (Newport Beach), which provides grants and support to nonprofit groups working in the communities where the companies within Fieldstone do business.

In addition, through their private foundation, First Fruit Inc. (Newport Beach), the Ochs make grants to Christian ministries in the developing world in the areas of evangelism, leadership development, and “wholistic ministry.”

Women and girls. Women & Philanthropy (Washington) has given its 2006 Leadership for Equity and Diversity (LEAD) Award to Adisa Douglas, program director at the Public Welfare Foundation (Washington). The award honors grant makers who have developed and supported programs that help advance equity for women and girls. Ms. Douglas was honored in particular for her work to move grant making in reproductive and sexual health from a primary focus on family planning to one that encompasses such issues as female genital mutilation, HIV/AIDS, and teenage sexuality.