Founder of Charity to Provide Safer Stoves Is Among 5 Winners of Purpose Prizes
By Noelle Barton
Contributor
November 13, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute
The award: The Purpose Prize, which honors efforts by people older than 60 to solve big social problems
Who gives the award: Civic Ventures, in San Francisco
How much the award offers: $100,000 apiece to five winners
Among the winners: Nancy Sanford Hughes, an Oregon homemaker who created StoveTeam International in 2008 to manufacture and distribute safe cooking stoves in developing countries
About Ms. Hughes: The 68-year-old learned about the millions of injuries and deaths caused by cooking over open fires during her stint as a volunteer cook with a medical mission in Guatemala. Her charity produces and distributes a safe, fuel-efficient model of stove.
Why she won: Her charity’s development of the Ecocina stove has created factories and jobs in Fiji, Ghana, Kenya, Mexico, and elsewhere.
Plans for the future: Rotary International plans to match the Purpose Prize award money and help StoveTeam International build factories in several more countries, says Ms. Hughes.
