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Nancy Susan Reynolds Awards Go to Three Unsung North Carolina Leaders
Winston-Salem, NC (November 19, 2007) - The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation has selected three North Carolinians to receive its coveted Nancy Susan Reynolds Awards - an Outward Bound instructor from Asheville who developed a program that is improving race relations among students in 11 high schools; a Raleigh woman who for more than 30 years has been a national leader in providing abortion services in underserved regions of the country; and a woman with limited means in rural Duplin County who provides around-the-clock assistance for people in need.
The recipients are Dave Genova of Asheville for race relations, Susan Hill of Raleigh for advocacy, and Lillie Sanders of Magnolia for personal service. Each award carries a $25,000 prize - $5,000 for the recipient to use as he or she chooses and $20,000 to be given to nonprofit organizations of his or her choice.
The awards, sometimes referred to as "North Carolina's Nobel Prize," were presented at a luncheon in Charlotte Saturday attended by more than 350 people from all parts of the state.
Dr. Lloyd P. (Jock) Tate, Jr., of Southern Pines, President of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, said, "The Foundation believes strongly that recognition should go to the state's unsung heroes - previously unheralded people who see needs and try to meet them, injustices and try to correct them, and conflict and suspicion and try to replace them with trust and cooperation."
While leading young people on an Outward Bound course, Dave Genova overheard a young white student say she was glad there weren't any African Americans in her group. Genova was stung by the prejudice and insensitivity, and he challenged the Outward Bound organization to take a leadership role in dismantling racism and prejudice.
The result was the Unity Project that brings groups of 12 high school students from 11 "Unity Schools" in Asheville, Chapel Hill and Charlotte to Outward Bound each summer. The students, all on scholarships, reflect the demographic diversity of their schools and spend nine days in the mountains getting to know each other so that racial barriers are broken down.
Susan Hill, the recipient for advocacy, has devoted her entire professional career to providing women's health services and has labored in the midst of the maelstrom over a woman's personal right to reproductive options. She has had repeated death threats, and one of her employees was murdered. Hill and her organization have sued those opposing a woman's right to choose more than 34 times in state and federal courts - including three cases in the U. S. Supreme Court, and she has never lost.
Lillie Sanders of Magnolia in rural Duplin County has committed her life to helping people in need. Whatever their needs are - food, clothing, shelter, transportation, medicine, even spiritual support - people know that Sanders is the go-to person. . Sanders has perfected the art of giving - whatever she has on any given day. She has become a model for others, not just in her part of the state but elsewhere in America.
Since its founding, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation has made grants of more than $470 million to projects in all North Carolina counties. Headquartered in Winston-Salem, it gives special attention to five focus areas - community economic development, democracy and civic engagement, the environment, pre-collegiate education, and social justice and equity.
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