Founder and Facilitator
Grayson LandCare
Purpose Prize Fellow 2012
A native son of rural Virginia, Jerry Moles spent decades as a college professor and consultant helping rural communities cultivate productive, income-generating and environmentally friendly agricultural businesses. He worked mostly on the West Coast and in Sri Lanka. But when his mother fell ill in 1999, he found himself back in Virginia to oversee her care.
 |
| Bhagwati Agrawal , Sustainable Innovations Inc. |
| Watch a video of Bhagwati Agrawal |
| Visit Sustainable Innovations Inc.'s website |
| Contact Bhagwati Agrawal |
Sustainable Innovations Inc.
Purpose Prize Winner 2012
Stopping on a dusty, unpaved village street in northwest India’s Rajasthan in 2007, Bhagwati (B.P.) Agrawal saw children excitedly running around calling, “Pani aagayaa.” They were alerting everyone that the water tanker had arrived with its twice-a-month delivery. Women appeared carrying clay pots to collect what they could of a life-sustaining resource continually in short supply.
 |
| Nancy Sanford Hughes , StoveTeam International |
| Watch a video of Nancy Sanford Hughes |
| Visit StoveTeam International's website |
| Contact Nancy Sanford Hughes |
StoveTeam International
Purpose Prize Winner 2011
Nancy Sanford Hughes was at a loss after her husband’s death from cancer in 2001. During their 30-year marriage, she’d been mostly a stay-at-home mom, but one with a yen for travel and adventure.
When well-meaning friends suggested she sell her rambling home in Eugene, Ore., and take it easy, Hughes bucked their advice by volunteering for a medical mission to Guatemala.
 |
| Aaron Shirley , Jackson Medical Mall Foundation |
| Visit Jackson Medical Mall Foundation's website |
| Contact Aaron Shirley |
Jackson Medical Mall Foundation
Purpose Prize Fellow 2011
In 1995, after a decades-long career in public health that included managing Mississippi’s largest community health center, Aaron Shirley hatched a new plan for improving the lives of low-income residents of Jackson, Miss. Shirley partnered with the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Tougaloo College and Jackson State University to convert a largely abandoned mall into the Jackson Medical Mall, the only facility of its kind in America to provide quality health care, human services and retail in one place.
In Search of Purpose, Passion and a Paycheck: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life
Some of the most inspiring encore stories come from Purpose Prize winners and fellows, people in their 60s and beyond who are tackling society’s toughest problems.
Start: 06/29/2011 - 4 p.m.
End: 06/29/2011 - 6 p.m.
Tough new economic realities have transformed career reinvention from a virtue into a necessity for millions of older Americans who aren't ready to retire or simply can't afford to quit working. But hard times have not forced many boomers around traditional retirement age to give up dreams of meaningful second careers. Recognizing that trend, Civic Ventures has launched a movement around encore careers with two main themes: second careers with meaning and social entrepreneurship.
 |
| Vicky Jekich , Merina Healing Arts Foundation |
| Visit Merina Healing Arts Foundation's website |
| Contact Vicky Jekich |
Merina Healing Arts Foundation
Launch Pad Finalist
Big Idea
Access to quality health care services is a major problem, particularly in rural communities. Health care facilities typically cut programs due to cost constraints, and creative arts therapy services are not always available, as there are few creative arts therapists in Idaho. Such therapists use dance, music and other forms of artistic engagement.
Living underneath a mountaintop removal mining operation in West Virginia, Bo Webb has emerged as one of the most important voices in the coalfield justice movement. Winner of the Purpose Prize, this coal miner's son has lobbied government officials, co-founded the Mountain Justice movement, worked with the Coal River Mountain Watch organization and organized numerous protests, marches and health care campaigns.
Civic Ventures handed out five $5,000 Launch Pad grants to social entrepreneurs over 45 who are making a difference in their communities in Alabama, New Jersey, Minnesota, Colorado and North Dakota. The winners were selected in American Idol fashion by public vote over the past month from 25 finalists and more than 1,000 submissions nationwide.
Several Purpose Prize Winners Get Major Recognition
03/09/2011 - 09:27:25am
Purpose Prize women are receiving big honors and media attention these days.
- by: Michele Melendez | More >
