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Elfenworks Foundation: In Harmony with Hope and Elfen Works Awards

"We applaud those groups and individuals who are working to mitigate the problem of poverty in America. As a way of celebrating these efforts we announce the annual In Harmony with HopeSM Award. In addition, we invite visitors to nominate those deserving of recognition with an Elfen Works Award."

harmony award

Since 2007, The Elfenworks Foundation has presented the In Harmony with Hope Award annually to honor extraordinary individuals who are working on creating sustainable change in several key areas that influence poverty in our country: education, social justice, healthcare, sustenance, and nonviolence. Thus far, we have recognized the following visionaries for their remarkable efforts: Rosalynn Carter (The Carter Center), Joyce Dattner (Bay Area All Stars), Dr. Paul Farmer (Partners in Health), Lois Lee (Children of the Night), Dr. Jack McConnell (Volunteers in Medicine), and Paul Minorini (Boys Hope Girls Hope).

The Elfenworks Foundation also accepts nominations for the Elfen Works Award, as a way of celebrating lesser-known individuals or organizations that have made efforts to do something about poverty in their local communities. The Elfen Works Award program aims to recognize those who have otherwise received little recognition - until now.

 

2009 In Harmony with HopeSM Award Honorees

Innovate. Integrate. Elevate. That's what the 2009 awardees do best. They share in the belief that innovation can create new opportunity to integrate the poor and the marginalized, and in so doing elevate us all.

Greg Boyle picture
NON-VIOLENCE - Father Gregory Boyle, S.J. (Founder), Homeboy Industries,
homeboy-industries.org. Father Greg’s Homeboy Industries is a one-stop shop for those who have decided to leave the world of gangs behind. It provides addiction and recovery programs, a full range of educational services, anger management training, etiquette and courtesy classes, day care programs (and parenting classes), job counseling and placement, and tattoo removal services. Two hundred former gang members help manage and run the entire operation, which includes a bakery, a café, and silkscreen, maintenance and retail shops that fund about a third of Homeboy Industries' operations. For 20 years Fr. Greg has been a beacon of hope in a blighted landscape; his efforts have changed the lives of more than 100,000 people.
[harmony page]

Robert Egger picture
SUSTENANCE - Robert Egger (Founder), DC Central Kitchen, dccentralkitchen.org. Twenty years ago, Robert Egger founded the DC Central Kitchen and turned the food bank model on its head. Instead of providing a simple handout, Egger uses food as a vehicle for change: clients become employed cooks through the Kitchen’s Culinary Jobs Training Program; college students learn about service and business in the Campus Kitchens Project; and 4,500 of DC’s hungry are fed as the Kitchen recycles more than one ton of food every day. The Kitchen also provides street outreach and nutrition education for at-risk kids. Today, Egger also works to galvanize the nonprofit industry through V3, pushing for reform and a place on the national stage.
[harmony page]

Peter Young picture
HEALTH AND MENTAL HEALTH - Rev. Peter G. Young (Founder), Peter Young Housing, Industries, and Treatment, pyhit.com. For half a century, Father Peter Young has helped inmates and parolees overcome their addictions. Peter Young Housing, Industries and Treatment (PYHIT) evolved out of Fr. Young’s firm belief that effective recovery is only possible if treatment is followed up with housing and jobs training. Fr. Young has forged successful public-private partnerships across New York State. The network of treatment, housing, and job training programs spans 100 sites. Three thousand people rely on services from PYHIT every day. PYHIT boasts a recidivism rate of less than 10 percent. In all, Fr. Young has helped hundreds of thousands move from addiction to becoming tax-paying members of society.
[harmony page]

 

2008 In Harmony with HopeSM Award Honorees

The following individuals have been selected for their creative contributions to mitigating domestic poverty.

Lois
NON-VIOLENCE - Lois Lee (Founder & Director), Children of the Night, childrenofthenight.org. Children of the Night has assisted more than 10,000 children between the ages of 11 and 17 who live on the streets and are forced into prostitution to pay for the food they eat and a place to sleep.
[harmony page]

Jack at VIM
HEALTH – Jack McConnell (founder), Volunteers in Medicine, volunteersinmedicine.org, created the first Volunteers in Medicine Clinic in 1994, when he paired a group of retired medical personnel who were searching for a way to continue practicing their profession with a large uninsured population on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Today, the Volunteers in Medicine Institute shepherds the replication of that program—there are 62 VIM clinics in 21 states whose 7,500 volunteers have delivered care to more than 120,000 uninsured Americans.
[harmony page]

 

2007 In Harmony with HopeSM Award Honorees

The following individuals have been selected for their creative contributions to mitigating domestic poverty.

Rosalynn Carter Receives In Harmony With Hope Award
HEALTH AND MENTAL HEALTH - Mrs. Rosalynn Carter of The Carter Center, cartercenter.org, for her pioneering advocacy in mental health. Honored at a luncheon for the Carter Center Mental Health Fellowhip Programs, for which The Elfenworks Foundation is providing 2007 matching funds.
[harmony page]

Joyce Dattner Receives In Harmony With Hope Award
NON-VIOLENCE - Joyce Dattner (Founder & Director), Bay Area All Stars, allstars.org. The All Stars Project creates outside of school, educational and performing arts activities for thousands of poor and minority youth and has been effective in promoting nonviolence and keeping kids off the streets honored at the Concert for Hope event at Stanford Memorial Church on September 6, 2007 [harmony page].

Dr. Paul Farmer receives In Harmony With Hope award
SOCIAL JUSTICE - Dr. Paul Farmer of Partners in Health, pih.org, is a pioneer in bringing world-class m edicine to the poor. But it is largely for his work with inner-city AIDS patients living in Boston that we salute him. It says a lot that he's now needed back in the mean streets of Boston.
[harmony page].

Paul Minorini Receives In Harmony With Hope Award
EDUCATION - Paul Minorini (President & CEO) of Boys Hope Girls Hope, boyshopegirlshope.org - for helping children who have talent and potential but are trapped in communities of poverty, violence and dysfunction, honored at the Concert for Hope event at Stanford Memorial Church on September 6, 2007
[harmony page].

 

Elfen Works Award Honorees

Our Elfen Works awards are meant to serve as a grass-roots involvement building tool. By enabling private citizens to nominate others they feel worthy of recognition, they may themselves be more likely to get involved in helping others.

To nominate an individual for an Elfen Works award, please use our contact page to send an email and note the subject is a nomination for the award. Only nominations received by email will be considered (no telephone nominations please). Please include

From time to time, our team will review the nominations we collect and select candidates for recognition, and winners will be posted on this website, until the list is too long to include online. The first three recipients were honored on August 8th, 2007 [see award]. So far, the following individuals have been selected for their positive contributions, their involvement, or their helping hand in the community: