The Annual Excellence in Ethics Award

The Community Advisory Board of the Center chooses a recipient of the annual Excellence in Ethics Award. This award is given to an individual who demonstrates steadfast commitment to improving the human condition through action and example. The Excellence in Ethics Award is given Wednesday evening during Ethics Awareness Week every September.

2009 Award

The 2009 Excellence in Ethics Award was given to Brent S. Crane, Director of the Food and Care Coalition in Provo, Utah.  Here is a brief history of his work there and a short biography.

In April of 1986 local clergy, public officials, and concerned citizens met to address the lack of services available in Utah County for underprivileged populations. Subsequent meetings reinforced the idea that a new level of advocacy and programmatic support needed to be addressed to effectively confront the growing community challenge. Resulting dialogue led to the creation of the Friends of the Coalition which initially operated under the non‑profit umbrella of Utahn's Against Hunger while legal documentation was being drafted and filed. In the Fall of 1988, Friends of the Coalition received approval from the Internal Revenue Service for incorporation under the Internal Revenue Code Section 501c(3), exempting it from income taxation and qualifying all community contributions as tax deductible. The Food & Care Coalition, LLC (FACC) is wholly owned by the Friends of the Coalition and serves as it's operational entity through which programs and services are offered. With the official birth of the Friends of the Coalition complete, board members and community activists founded an organization that embodied community ownership as its foundation and sensible compassion as its social mission. The Friends of the Coalition serves as a vehicle for community/client interaction on an intimate and personal level to occur, thereby allowing an elevation in skills and shared community morals, values and attitudes to be transferred to those most vulnerable. Central to the agency's overall strategy was the inclusion of community volunteers. Through the collective resource of people‑‑their involvement, dialogue on issues, and influence in securing resources‑‑it was felt that programs would be strengthened, the fiscal impact on the community would be minimized, and better results would therefore follow. For this reason, the Friends of the Coalition employs a small staff and surrounds each program with committed volunteers. This minimizes budget demands, reinforces community ownership,
and allows the Friends of the Coalition to seek solutions that are compatible with community expectations and client needs. The Friends of the Coalition believes the inherent potential in Utah County can model how to confront the challenge of poverty. Our religious, cultural, business, educational and technological foundation provides an extremely strong platform with which to accomplish this objective. Working together, we can achieve this dream.
 

Brent S. Crane

Brent Crane graduated with a BA in Family Sciences from Brigham Young University and later completed is Non‑Profit Management Certificate from the University of Utah. He has served on many community and civic boards including the Provo Chamber of Commerce, Provo Downtown Alliance and the Springville City Volunteer Commission. He has thoroughly enjoyed his work at the Food & Care Coalition over the past 20 years. The many employees, clients, donors and volunteers he has met have enriched his life tremendously. Brent is a self‑proclaimed idealist and his greatest satisfaction comes from the knowledge that individually and collectively we can greatly improve the lives of those less fortunate. Brent has received the Reed Smoot Community Service Award (2009) from the Provo‑Orem Chamber of Commerce, the Campus Compact Award (2007) from the State of Utah, and the Presidential Award (2006) from the Corporate Alliance. Brent and his wife Shellie reside in Mapleton with their four children: Skyler, Mitchell, Paige and Brinnley.

Photographs from various Excellence in Ethics Awards are available on the Ethics Flickr Site.

Past recipients:

• Michael Zimmerman (1994)
• Irene Fisher (1995)
• Delmont Oswald, Director, Utah Humanities Council (1996)
• Jay Jacobsen (1997)
• Karen Ashton (1998)
• Omar Kader (1999)
• His Holiness the Dalai Lama (2000, awarded May 2001)
• Pamela Atkinson, Homeless Advocate (2001)
• Bill Pope (2002)
• Jon Huntsman Sr. (2003)
• Michael K. Young (2004, awarded March 2005)
• Kim Clark (2005, awarded March 2006)
• J. P. Lilly (2006)
• David Dominguez (2007)
• Christine M. Durham (2008)
• Brent S. Crane, Executive Director, Food and Care Coalition, Provo (2009)