Sweet Alice Harris
Alice Harris is the director of POW – Parents of Watts. “POW provides emergency food and shelter, family counseling, tutoring, parenting classes, employment training, literacy courses, college and career preparation, and housing assistance for anyone who needs it. Every child in the community now gets immunization shots. They didn’t before POW. Though POW’s doors are open to all, most of its assistance goes to young women and children.”

Betty Chinn
“Betty Chinn is a woman who exemplifies how one person can touch the lives of hundreds of people whom the rest of the world has forgotten. Her purpose is simple: to show the homeless who live in her hometown of Eureka love, comfort and basic humanity.”

Ivelise Markovits
“For nearly 40 years, Ivelise Markovits has offered help and hope to abandoned, neglected and abused children. Penny Lane, named after the Beatles’ song, was created by Markovits in 1969 as a home for 25 troubled teenage girls, a safe haven to help them rebuild their lives. Today, Penny Lane is a nearly $30 million a year organization with six centers that, each day, help rebuild the lives of some 2,900 children and their families.”

Marilyn Hamilton
“Despite a tragic hang gliding accident in 1979 which left her paralyzed for life, Marilyn has stayed strong and, in the process, changed the lives of the disabled. Her innovative design of the “Quickie” wheelchair revolutionized the wheelchair industry, allowing many disabled people to live a productive and active lifestyle. Marilyn continued her crusade when she founded “Winners on Wheels,” a program to inspire young children in chairs.”