Our Heroes
Each year, we recognize heroic individuals and organizations who tirelessly fight for the health of our communities, our planet and our future. Below are the names of those exceptional health defenders.
2022
Our Grassroots Leadership Award goes to a leader whose exceptional and often courageous grassroots leadership has empowered community members to create positive change for environmental health. Grassroots leaders are the backbone of our movement.
Grassroots Leadership Award Winners:
McCormick Family Farm
New Beat Farm
Misty Brook Farm
Songbird Farm
Fairfield Water Concerned Citizens
PFAS Free Trenton
Our Legislative Leadership Awards go to legislators whose exceptional leadership embodies integrity, compassion, dedication, and courage in working for strong bipartisan support of policies in service to environmental health. Working across political party lines, they have engaged their colleagues in valuable, progressive public service.
Legislative Leadership Award Winners:
Senator Stacy Brenner (D-Scarborough)
Senator Rick Bennett (R – Oxford)
Rep. Lori Gramlich (D- Old Orchard Beach)
Rep. Rena Newell (D – Passamaquoddy Tribe)
Rep. Bill Pluecker (I – Warren)
Rep. Stanley Paige Zeigler (D – Montville)
Rep. Michele Meyer (D – Eliot)
Our Environmental Justice Health Leadership Award goes to a community member in recognition of their outstanding leadership in advancing environmental justice, ending racial disparities in health and well-being, and ensuring that historically marginalized communities are empowered to speak and act for themselves, while working tirelessly to fully honor the sovereignty of tribal nations.
Environmental Justice Health Leadership Award Winners:
Corey Hinton
Rep. Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland)
2020
Linda S. Birnbaum, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., A.T.S., Frank Hatch Environmental Health Leadership Award, for her extraordinary years of advancing scientific research to improve environmental public health
Hon. Henry Ingwersen, Legislative Leadership Award, for his integrity, leadership, and dedication to protecting the health of Maine children and families from toxic chemicals
2019
Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, Frank Hatch Environmental Health Leadership Award, a trailblazing thought leader and founding member of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice
Lani Graham, M.D., M.P.H., Bettie Kettell Medical Professional Award, family physician, former public health official, and outspoken defender of environmental public health in Maine and across the nation
Fred Stone, Grassroots Leadership Award, third generation of the Stone family to own and operate Stoneridge Farm, a dairy farm in Arundel, Maine, who spoke out about disastrous contamination of his farmland from the spreading of toxic sewage sludge
Representative Jessica Fay, D-Raymond, and Senator Robert Foley, R-York, for their exceptional leadership for health of Maine children and families as lead sponsor and lead Senate co-sponsor, respectively, of the Safe Food Packaging Act
House Majority Leader Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, exceptional legislative leader for the climate and good green jobs as lead sponsor of the renewable chemicals production tax credit, signed into law by Maine Governor Janet Mills in March 2020
Biofine Developments Northeast Inc., Sustainable Business Award, renewable liquid fuels companyat the forefront of the emerging sustainable bioeconomy in Maine
2018
Ginger Jordan-Hillier, Frank Hatch Environmental Health Leadership Award, pioneering Maine state environmental healthadvocate and longtime Strategy Center board member
Leonardo Trasande, M.D., M.P.P., Bettie Kettell Medical Professional Award, internationally recognized children’s health expert
Mano en Mano, Grassroots Leadership Award, Downeast Maine community organization building leadership and inclusiveness
Kai Smith, Sustainable Business Award, Maine entrepreneur building mission-driven biobased businesses
2017
Michael Herz, Damariscotta, Maine, Frank Hatch Environmental Health Leadership Award, for environmental health leadership and philanthropy through several organizations, including the Strategy Center and Prevent Harm
Sydney Sewall, MD, MPH, Hallowell, Maine, Bettie Kettell Outstanding Health Professional Award
Gail Carlson, PhD, Waterville, Maine, Science Champion Award
Wendy Brennan, Mt. Vernon, Grassroots Leadership Award, for safe drinking water
Joanie Hill, Searsport, Grassroots Leadership Award, for safe drinking water
Therese Flaherty, Yarmouth, Grassroots Leadership Award, for ban on flame retardants
Linda Baker, Topsham, Grassroots Leadership Award, for ban on flame retardants
Rep. Walter A. Kumiega III, D-Deer Isle; Rep. Jeff Pierce, R-Dresden; Rep. Ralph Tucker, D-Brunswick; Legislative Leadership Awards for working to phase out toxic chemical flame retardants
Sen. Joyce A. Maker, R-Washington, Legislative Leadership Award for working to expand well water testing and treatment
2016
Andy Igrejas, executive director of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families in Washington, D.C., Frank Hatch Environmental Health Leadership Award, for fighting the battle for TSCA reform
Steven Feder, MD primary care pediatrician in Boothbay, Maine region, Bettie Kettell Outstanding Health Professional Award
Regina Creeley, retired teacher from Hudson, Maine, Grassroots Leadership Award, for her work for safe drinking water
James Chittum, division manager, Grow-Tech LLC, South Portland, Maine, Sustainable Business Leadership Award
2015
Ken Geiser, PhD, Frank Hatch Environmental Health Leadership Award
Ross and Christine Endicott, Business Leadership Award for their work with Endicott Home Furnishings
Rep. Drew Gattine (D-Westbrook), Rep. Karen Vachon (R-Scarborough), Rep. Gary Hilliard (R-Belgrade), Legislative Leadership Awards for their work for safe drinking water
Bettie Kettell, Grassroots Leadership Award, awarded posthumously
2014
Professional Fire Fighters of Maine, Frank Hatch Environmental Health Leadership Award, for leadership on flame retardants.
Paige Holmes, Grassroots Leadership Award, for leadership of a citizen-led effort in Maine to require the state obtain and release information about phthalates in consumer products
John Krueger, Grassroots Leadership Award, for science advocacy around the phthalates biomonitoring report.
2013
Dr. Deborah Rice, internationally renowned toxicologist, Frank Hatch Environmental Leadership Award, for her work and advocacy for chemical safety policy as a toxicologist at Maine’s Center for Disease Control
Barbara DiBiase, Grassroots Activism Award, for her tireless volunteerism and support as a donor.
2012
Bev Paigen, Ph.D., Frank Hatch Environmental Health Leadership Award, founding advisory board member of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, honored for a lifetime of community service harnessing science to protect health. Dr. Paigen is recognized as an award-winning scientist for her work studying human diseases linked to environmental health.
Two-dozen moms and other activists, Grassroots Leadership Awards. They chartered a bus to Washington, D.C., in May of 2012 to meet with senators and advocate for the Safe Chemicals Act.
2011
Lael Stegall, honored posthumously, as a founding Strategy Center board member and staunch advocate for the organization’s mission and development.
Sarah Standiford, former executive director of the Maine Women’s Policy Center, Frank Hatch Environmental Health Leadership Award.
Jessica Graham, Dana Hernandez, Mary Beth Luce, and Megan Rice, Grassroots Leadership Awards for winning the campaign for policy to phase out BPA from reusable food and beverage containers in Maine.
2010
Maine Governor John Baldacci, our first Frank Hatch Environmental Public Health Leadership Award. Over eight years, Governor Baldacci signed nine chemical safety bills into law.