The United Way of Greater Chattanooga and its nonprofit support program Venture Forward hosted the second annual Celebrate awards May 19.
More than 200 Greater Chattanooga leaders, volunteers and community advocates gathered at Waterhouse Pavilion to celebrate this year’s nominees.
This year’s awards featured five categories: Collaboration of the Year, Innovation in Action, Volunteer of the Year, Nonprofit Leader of the Year and Nonprofit of the Year. A group of volunteer judges from the Greater Chattanooga area selected the finalists and the winners.
Shaw Innovation in Action Award: Gaining Ground Grocery
Gaining Ground Grocery helps find access to affordable and healthy food. Partnerships with local farms supply the store, and customers are encouraged to bring their own bags or containers. Now in Highland Park – a food desert – the store gives people of all ages access to meats, produce and eggs at reduced prices.
Collaboration of the Year Award: The Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga and Habitat for Humanity
The Community Foundation and Habitat for Humanity’s Eviction Prevention Initiative focuses on housing stability. Goals include increasing housing stability through legal representation, case management and access to funding; collecting and sharing data to inform policy solutions; and increasing community awareness of housing issues.
Elder’s Ace Hardware Volunteer of the Year: Iain Hoefle
Hoefle volunteers at the Chattanooga Community Kitchen. In 2021 alone, he helped the team repurpose pallets into shelves, raise funds to replace tools that were damaged in a flash flood, find and fix a leak and teach other volunteers how to use tools so they could contribute to other projects.
Roper Corporation Nonprofit Leader of the Year Award: Amy Jo Osborn
Osborn is the president and CEO of the Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer. She suffered a personal tragedy and turned her grief into action and started the Austin Hatcher Foundation.
Double Cola Nonprofit of the Year Award: Children’s Advocacy Center of Hamilton County
Children’s Advocacy Center of Hamilton County works with child protective services, law enforcement, prosecutors and medical and mental health professionals to provide coordinated responses to child abuse victims and non-offending caregivers. The nonprofit also provides intervention services, clinical services, evidence-based child abuse prevention education programs for adults and children and more.
Source: United Way