Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan Presents Annual Leadership Awards to Forgotten Harvest, Cindy Eggleton of Brilliant Cities, and Trustee Andrew Camden
The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan Board of Trustees presented three leadership awards during its recent annual meeting, held June 18 on the campus of its grantee partner Marygrove Conservancy.
“This is our favorite part of our annual meeting – the opportunity to recognize outstanding work by leaders and an organization in the community,” says Nicole Sherard-Freeman, president and CEO of the Community Foundation.
“This year we were delighted to honor Forgotten Harvest, Cindy Eggleton of Brilliant Cities, and our longtime trustee Andrew Camden,” Sherard-Freeman says. “All three of these award winners are committed to ensuring that everyone can thrive in our region, whether it’s by tackling food insecurity, expanding access to educational opportunities or by being a tireless advocate for philanthropy who has made a positive impact in our community.”
Program excellence award
The Richard Huegli Award for Program Excellence was presented to Forgotten Harvest. The award was accepted by Forgotten Harvest CEO Adrian Lewis. The Richard F. Huegli Award honors a nonprofit that demonstrates high standards in human services programming and belief in human potential.
Established in 1990, Forgotten Harvest has emerged as metro Detroit’s large-scale food rescue organization, serving as a major source of nutritious food for children, families, seniors and veterans by rescuing surplus perishable food from hundreds of sites and growing fresh produce at its 92-acre farm. With more than 30,000 volunteers annually and a fleet of 37 refrigerated trucks, Forgotten Harvest rescues and distributes nearly 45 million pounds of nutritious food at no charge to a network of 220 partner agencies across Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. The nonprofit serves an average of 165,000 food-insecure residents per month.
Forgotten Harvest’s services are as critical as ever as the organization works to meet the growing needs of individuals and families experiencing food insecurity resulting from inflation and rising food costs.
Forgotten Harvest has been a strong partner of the Community Foundation over the years.
Nonprofit executive award
The Mariam C. Noland Award was presented to Cindy Eggleton, co-founder and CEO of Brilliant Cities. This award recognizes a nonprofit executive in southeast Michigan whose service exemplifies the importance of leadership in their organization and the nonprofit community.
Brilliant Cities was formed as a national expansion of Brilliant Detroit, an organization Cindy co-founded and led for almost 10 years. Established in 2015, Brilliant Detroit creates “kid success neighborhoods” by establishing community hubs in underused housing to support school readiness, health and family stability for children ages 0 through 8. Brilliant Detroit has been at the forefront of addressing literacy, in addition to providing other supportive services.
Under Cindy’s leadership, Brilliant Detroit grew from one hub and 50 participating families in its first year to reaching more than 7,000 children and caregivers across eight Detroit neighborhoods. The model has been so successful that other cities have requested their own chapters, spurring the start of Brilliant Cities, which Cindy now leads.
Board of Trustees award
The Allan D. Gilmour Award for Community Leadership was presented to Andrew Camden. This award recognizes a member of the Board of Trustees for their exemplary volunteerism and philanthropy, both to the Community Foundation and the broader community.
Camden has been a Community Foundation trustee since 2005, serving on the Program and Distribution Commitee and Legal Financial Network, and as co-chair of the Asset Development Committee. He has donated more than $1.2 million to the Community Foundation during his lifetime, establishing a donor-advised fund and an endowment to benefit the Detroit Institute of Arts. As a vocal Community Foundation advocate, Camden also has connected the organization with dozens of donors who have or will establish funds that will benefit southeast Michigan in perpetuity.
Outside of the Community Foundation, he is well known for his love of the arts. A world-class collector in his own right, Camden has been one of the strongest supporters of the Detroit Institute of Arts, where he served as a trustee for years and continues to serve as a trustee emeritus and as chair of the Museum’s Friends of Modern and Contemporary Arts. Along with his late wife Gayle Shaw-Camden, Camden has donated several works to the permanent collection at the DIA.
The Allan D. Gilmour Award winner receives $5,000 to donate to a Community Foundation nonprofit partner of their choice. Camden chose to establish a Community Foundation endowment fund supporting the Detroit Public Theatre. The theater produces nationally recognized plays and programs that attract audiences from throughout southeast Michigan to the heart of Midtown’s thriving cultural district.