FoodCorps Co-Founders Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney Receive Heinz Award

FoodCorps co-founders Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney have been selected to receive the 17th annual Heinz Awards in honor of their advocacy for sustainable food.

Ellis, who is Executive Director of FoodCorps in addition to being one of its co-founders, remarked “It’s a humbling thing to answer your phone and hear Mrs. Heinz on the line saying the Heinz Family Foundation has taken note of our work.”

“It’s a powerful reminder that people across the country are standing up to say that food matters: that fundamental thing, the food we feed our kids, is important.”

Established by Teresa Heinz in 1993 to honor the memory of her late husband, U.S. Senator John Heinz, the Awards celebrate the accomplishments and spirit of the Senator by recognizing the extraordinary achievements of individuals in the areas of: Arts and Humanities, Environment, Human Condition, Public Policy, and Technology, the Economy and Employment. This year’s awards have a special focus on the environment.

“Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis are catalysts for change. From their early work at Yale University with the sustainable food movement to the empathetic and warm documentary, King Corn, to their ‘Truck Farms,’ they have provoked and educated us with humor and storytelling,” Teresa Heinz, chairman of the Heinz Family Foundation, said today.  “Now, with FoodCorps, they will engage children in both growing and understanding the food they eat.”

Ellis and Cheney are honored to receive this award beside their fellow awardees:

John Luther Adams, Independent Composer (Fairbanks, Alaska) For his musical
compositions that invite us to hear the whole world as music

Richard Alley, Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University (University Park, Pa.) For his
polar ice discoveries that showed abrupt climate change is possible and for engaging his
students, policymakers and the public   

Janine Benyus, Biomimicry Institute (Missoula, Mont.) For inspiring us to look to
nature’s engineering for solutions to our biggest challenges  

Louis J. Guillette, Jr., Ph. D., Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston, S.C.)
For being a leader in the field of hormone disruption and the impact chemicals have on
wildlife

Joan Kleypas, Ph.D., National Center for Atmospheric Research, Institute for the Study
of Society and Environment (Boulder, Colo.) For conducting breakthrough research on
the impacts of environmental change on coral reefs and engaging both scientists and
policymakers

Nancy Knowlton, Ph.D., National Museum of Natural History (Washington, D.C.)  
For broadening the understanding of ocean biodiversity and the impacts of humans on
marine life

Nancy Rabalais, Ph.D., Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (Chauvin, La.) For
her pioneering research of severe oxygen depletion in the Gulf of Mexico and
commitment to reduce water pollution through education and public policy

Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., Ithaca College, (Ithaca, N.Y.) For highlighting the link
between toxic chemicals and diseases through her written work, as well engaging the
public as a cancer survivor

Read the full press release for more information about the Heinz Awards and this year’s honorees.