Humanitarian Awards
Corporate Humanitarian Award
KAISER PERMANENTE
Dr. King once said that “Life’s most urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ Kaiser Permanente—one of our nation’s leading healthcare providers and the largest nonprofit health plan in Georgia—answers this question through providing high quality healthcare to its members. Kaiser Permanente’s nonprofit charitable mission is to address healthcare disparities which exist in underserved communities throughout metro Atlanta.
For example, a partnership in South DeKalb’s Belvedere Community enables Kaiser Permanente to provide preventative initiatives for the area’s eight-thousand residents, 17 percent of whom live below the poverty line. In addition, this year, the Foundation gifted several other communities with grants to support health clinics which serve the uninsured and underinsured with free medical and dental care.
Additional outreach efforts include programs that address medical financial assistance and health advocacy. Nutrition education is another Foundation focus. Children are especially fond of the Educational Theatre program which promotes healthy eating habits through the use of live puppet shows and performances.
Georgia Perimeter College also is a grateful recipient of the Kaiser Foundation’s generosity, having enjoyed a long and mutually-supportive partnership with GPC’s Nursing Program. The Foundation has provided Georgia Perimeter with more than $300,000 in direct funds to nursing students through scholarships and other programs.
Currently, the Bridge Program subsidizes health insurance costs for 30 fulltime GPC nursing students, providing health coverage for them and their families while they are enrolled at GPC and unable to work fulltime. The Foundation also sponsors professional development for nursing faculty by funding registration and travel costs for new nursing educators to attend a nationally renowned faculty development conference, and maintenance costs for the GPC Health Sciences van, a mobile health unit used throughout metro Atlanta to provide immunizations, screenings and other health services.
Kaiser’s long-standing support has played a significant role in the retention and success of GPC nursing students who, since 2004, have achieved a 100 percent pass rate on the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses.
Kaiser Permanente’s commitment to community is more than a catch phrase… it’s a core value and the mark of a true corporate citizen. This is why we proudly salute the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia as the recipient of the 2010 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Corporate Humanitarian Award.
Individual Humanitarian Award
FORMER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER AND FORMER FIRST LADY ROSALYNN CARTER
Former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter remain steadfast in their global commitment to promoting peace and protecting human rights. The idea started at home. After Georgia voters elected Jimmy Carter governor in 1970, he vowed that, quote: “No poor, rural, weak or black person should ever have to bear the additional burden of being deprived of the opportunity of an education, a job, or simple justice.” He went on to extend job opportunities to African-Americans in state government … and in a symbolic and first-ever move had portraits of influential African-Americans, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., hung in the capitol.
President and Mrs. Carter extended this same fervor for equality when they went to the White House in 1977, while also advocating strongly for education and literacy. During his tenure, Carter accomplished the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, a treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel, a nuclear arms control treaty with the Soviet Union and the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. Domestically, he achieved major educational programs under a new Department of Education and expanded Head Start programs for the first time.
Since their days in Washington, D.C., the Carters have continued their passion for learning and teaching by working with literacy programs in The Georgia Department of Education, as well as establishing the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation, which links student education with community service; promotes academic credit for student learning through civic engagement; and recognizes institutions, such as Georgia Perimeter College, that incorporate civic engagement into their curriculums.
The couple also is known for The Carter Center, which opened in Atlanta nearly 30 years ago and includes President Carter’s presidential library and museum. It also serves as a nerve center to resolve conflict, promote democracy, protect human rights and prevent disease and other afflictions worldwide. In addition, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have made significant literary contributions through their books; together, they’ve authored more than 30. The Carters continue active participation in one of their most cherished nonprofits, Habitat for Humanity, and their long-time church in Plains.
Even in their later years, the power couple shows no signs of slowing down, with Rosalynn Carter continuing to champion women’s concerns and mental illness issues and President Carter receiving the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize “for his … untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
Student Award
ADAM SLATER
At only 20 years old, the winner of this year’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Student Humanitarian Award has amassed a breathtaking resume of community service. Adam Slater first learned the importance of giving back while attending elementary school in New Haven, Connecticut, where he often volunteered at soup kitchens and homeless shelters. After he and his family moved to Georgia eight years ago, Slater strengthened his resolve to help others through literacy and other initiatives, both domestically and internationally.
In addition to tutoring fellow students—as a teen—Slater participated in a Rotary International Missionary Project in La Molina, alongside the Andes Mountains. He and a team of volunteers built a church that also serves as a recreational center and a school for the area’s poor residents, and he recalls not only helping construct the building, but also teaching English to Peruvians once the school opened.
Two years ago, Slater enrolled at Georgia Perimeter College not knowing quite what to expect. He credits GPC’s Student Team for Advising and Registration, or STAR Leader program with helping him navigate the rigors of college. So, true to his passion for giving back, he became one of the program’s most valued volunteers, helping to give new college students the same beneficial orientation he’d received.
Slater’s campus involvement also included participation in student government and the Leadership Academy…and it wasn’t uncommon to find him organizing student participation in an AIDS Walk or painting a Habitat home or coordinating and leading a college-wide panel discussion about topics such as “Building the Black Male Legacy.”
Adam Slater graduated from Georgia Perimeter College last month and is continuing his education at Georgia State University as an accounting and finance major. He also continues as a humanitarian—volunteering for Hands-On Atlanta, Hosea Feed the Hungry, the American Cancer and Kidney Societies, the American Red Cross, as well as the East Atlanta Kids Foundation and other non-profits. Georgia Perimeter Student Affairs Counselor Diana Rowe calls Adam Slater a “natural born leader” and “exemplary individual.” |
