Safeco Gives - Selected Community Hero Award Recipients

Selected Community Hero Award Recipients

Jesse Hunsinger, nominated by Tammy Anthony of Smart Choice of SC (Greenville, SC)
The father of a child with Down Syndrome, Hunsinger founded the Wren Youth Association's first special needs baseball team in 1999, enabling his son and 20 other special needs children to overcome their disabilities and play baseball. Recognizing the positive role sports play in the lives of special needs children, Hunsinger and his wife Kristy founded Upstate Challenger Sports in 2006. Upstate Challenger Sports enables kids with special needs to play sports such as golf and basketball, in addition to baseball, and participate in events such as dances and a football day at Clemson University. At Clemson, the program’s young participants have an opportunity to “run” down the hill like the University’s football team does before each of their games. Hunsinger started a buddy program through Upstate Challenger Sports, recruiting young adults in high school and college to provide assistance during the nonprofit’s practices and games. Helping kids bat and run bases has helped Hunsinger’s volunteer recruits be more accepting of special needs kids and all people with differences. Hunsinger’s volunteers now not only cheer for their kids during team activities but do so in everyday life as well. In addition to initiating the volunteer program, Hunsinger has also led group meetings to help fathers of special needs kids connect with their sons and daughters – some for the very first time. A coach to many, Hunsinger is a hero to an entire community of kids, their fans, and their families.

Dr. Kenneth Bryant, nominated by Mark Berset of Comegys Insurance Corner (St. Petersburg, FL)
Bryant has been a surgeon and urologist at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, Florida since 1986. He has spent countless hours working to improve the healthcare services available to African American members of his community, and to alleviate multi-generational poverty in St. Petersburg. Bryant's volunteer work includes serving as a Trustee for Bayfront Health System, Rogers Heart Foundation, and the Academy Prep Center for Education. He is a former Trustee for Bayfront Health Foundation and the American Cancer Society. President of Sigma Pi Phi community service fraternity, Bryant is also a co-chair of the Physician's Division of the Second Century Campaign for Bayfront Health Foundation and founder of the St. Petersburg Prostate Cancer Awareness Group. In 1988, Bryant created the African American Health Forum to provide health education and medical screenings to the 23,000 residents of Midtown St. Petersburg, most of whom are low-income African-Americans. Bryant also put his leadership skills to work as a member of the Community Advisory Committee instrumental in helping to relocate St. Petersburg's federally funded Johnnie Ruth Clarke (JRC) community health center to the historic Mercy Hospital Campus in Midtown. Today, with Bryant’s help, the Mercy Hospital Campus is home to the Mercy Project at the Johnnie Ruth Clarke Health Center, a groundbreaking collaboration between Community Health Centers of Pinellas County, St. Petersburg College, University of Florida, Florida A&M University, and Bayfront Medical Center that provides medical services to the underserved, predominantly African American community of South St. Petersburg.

Cynthia Parker Robertson, nominated by Bert Miller of The Miller Agency (Washington, TX)
As Founder and Executive Director of the Lena Mae Farris Foundation, Robertson works to meet the needs of minority populations—the elderly, the poor, women—in rural areas of her community. Since the Foundation’s incorporation in 2003, she has developed five programs aimed at improving the lives of elderly residents in 19 Texas counties (mostly seniors in Brazos Valley) and has single-handedly given new meaning to her community's commitment to improving the health status of its neediest citizens. Robertson’s educational background and professional experience in social work have contributed to her awareness of the obstacles her community faces in fulfilling that commitment for poor and elderly rural residents in particular. One of the reasons Safeco agent Bert Miller nominated Robertson for a Safeco Community Hero Award was Robertson’s initiation and coordination of a transportation program for area seniors. Since its inception, the program has provided 1,005 rides to seniors in need of transportation to health care appointments. In completing those 1,005 trips, volunteers recruited and retained through hard work by Robertson and the Foundation have driven over 10,000 miles. Robertson’s goal is to expand the transportation program to a full-service Grimes Health Resource Center, extending urban-based social and health services to the rural community. Robertson intends the Center to be a hub for a network of Health Outposts ensuring all rural residents access to the resources they need to maintain their health and wellbeing.

Douglas Schuler, nominated by Judy Roell of Canyon Road Insurance (Seattle, WA)
Douglas Schuler has written books and articles and been engaged with issues relating to society and computing as an educator, practitioner, researcher and community activist for more than two decades. Schuler has donated his time and talent to building computer networks that empower and enliven communities, all the while teaching and motivating others to do the same. A dedicated volunteer, Schuler has spent thousands of hours raising awareness about communication and information issues concerning human needs and creating social capital to help build “connected” communities in the city of Seattle as well as South America, India, and other countries around the world. Much of Schuler’s work has been as a volunteer with Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, an organization he used to chair. Schuler has served on numerous City of Seattle telecommunication advisory boards and the Seattle Public Library City Librarian Search Committee. He also co-founded the Seattle Community Network (SCN), an all-volunteer, free, public-access computer network that encourages community development, and helped facilitate the "Liberating Voices" program for Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. Schuler is an evening and weekend faculty member of The Evergreen State College in Olympia and Director of the Public Sphere Project, an initiative of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility.

Sharon Hurt, nominated by Debra Alexander Fisher of Alexander and Associates (Nashville, TN)
Hurt is the Executive Director of the Jefferson Street United Merchants Partnership (J.U.M.P.), a nonprofit dedicated to developing, fostering, and promoting cooperative economic development in North Nashville. During the past 10 years, Hurt has transformed J.U.M.P. from a small merchants group to a large organization of involved activists offering innovative programming to the community. Through J.U.M.P., Hurt developed a summer program for underprivileged children in her community, introducing many low-income youth to music and arts for the first time. She also started a program through which well-known local musicians teach children how to play musical instruments. A tireless community activist, Hurt created Candlelight Awards to recognize local businesses and community leaders for their positive contribution to the North Nashville community. She also initiated a now annual Bridging the Gap Mixer, designed to bring individuals of all identities together to play music. The day after the mixer, J.U.M.P. sponsors a free Jazz and Blues Festival for the community. In its 7th year, the festival has grown to attract an audience of some 35,000 people. Currently hard at work as usual—Fisher describes Hurt as a woman with the advancement of the community always in her heart—Hurt is raising funds for a streetscape beautification project for Nashville’s historic Jefferson Street. Jefferson Street is considered by many to be the heart and soul of the African American community in Nashville. She is also continuing her work to support Nashville's small business owners—inviting speakers to conduct business and community information seminars designed to help small business successfully advance their operations—and spearheading important community projects such as the annual Easter Parade and Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.