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2008 Gleitsman award press release

Center for Public Leadership Honors Innovative Antihunger Leader with 2008 Gleitsman Citizen Activist Award Billy Shore to be recognized at November 19 event

CAMBRIDGE, MA—The Center for Public Leadership (CPL) at the John F. Kennedy School of Government proudly announces that the 2008 Gleitsman Citizen Activist Award will go to Billy Shore, cofounder of Share Our Strength. The award and the $100,000 prize that goes with it will be presented to Shore on November 19th at a reception in Cambridge. While working on Gary Hart’s senatorial and presidential campaign staffs, Shore cofounded Share Our Strength (SOS) in 1984 with his sister, Debbie. He has served as the organization’s executive director ever since. During his tenure, SOS has become the leading organization working to end childhood hunger in America. Partnering with the food service and culinary industries to create programs such as Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation^® and Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale^®, which have become household names, SOS has raised more than $200 million. Comarketing arrangements with companies such as Timberland, American Express, Tyson Foods, Domino Sugar and C&H Sugar, Food Network, Lexus, and SYSCO have brought in millions more to feed children and educate them about nutrition, as well as to raise awareness about hunger in the United States. In 1997, Shore launched Community Wealth Ventures, a for-profit subsidiary of Share Our Strength, to provide strategic advice to nonprofits looking to create income-generating activities. In addition, Shore has written four books about leading change by creating community wealth. “Everyone has a strength to share, and creating opportunities for others to do so has been a way of empowering people to make a difference in their communities,” Shore said upon learning of his selection for the award. “Solving the challenges our country faces requires more than effective political leaders. It requires effective citizens. I’m grateful that such citizen activism is recognized, uniquely and powerfully, by the Gleitsman Award, and in a way that will surely inspire others to greater action as well.”

Casey Otis-Cote, assistant director of CPL’s Gleitsman Program in Leadership for Social Change, observed, “There are two kinds of poverty in our country: those who don’t have and those who don’t know. Billy Shore has labored mightily over the past quarter-century to eradicate both. The 2008 Gleitsman Award not only recognizes Billy’s outstanding achievement, it also sets his example of inventiveness and perseverance in high relief, catalyzing the work of grassroots leaders everywhere.”

Judges for the 2008 award included Candace Lightner, founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving; J.B. Schramm, founder and CEO, College Summit; Aviva Argote, director, Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Harvard Kennedy School; Stanley Sheinbaum, founding publisher of New Perspectives Quarterly; and David Gergen, director, Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School. The judges received nominations and supporting materials from all across the country, and winnowed the list down to six finalists. The award recipient was chosen by majority vote.

Echoing the judges’ sentiments, Cheri Rosché, partner of Alan L. Gleitsman (now deceased), who established the award in 1993, added, “Alan founded the Gleitsman Citizen Activist award program to recognize people who make a difference, tell their story, and make others aware of what one person can do. Billy is an ideal choice to receive this award because of his twofold genius. He has galvanized the restaurant industry by getting people to contribute what they do best: cook for, create, and host memorable dining experiences. And he’s raised all this money without taking funds away from the donations contributors would have given to other causes.”

### About the Gleitsman Citizen Activist AwardThe Gleitsman Citizen Activist Award was created in 1993 by retired television executive Alan L. Gleitsman to reward and encourage exceptional citizen-leaders in their efforts to correct social injustice. It is given biennially and includes a $100,000 prize. Past honorees have included Wendy Kopp, Ralph Nader, as well as Ron Grzywinski and Mary Houghton, cofounders of ShoreBank. About the Center for Public Leadership Established in 2000 through a generous gift from the Wexner Foundation, the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School provides cutting-edge teaching and research as well as hands-on training in the skills of leadership for people in government, nonprofits, and business. For more information, go to: www.hks.harvard.edu/leadership

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