The James Beard Foundation announced Chris and Meredith Powell as the recipients of its 2017 Angel Award, which is granted annually to an individual or group that has demonstrated significant financial support for its programs. As founders of the community-focused kitchen, supper club, and catering company, Orange Door Hospitality, the Powells are being honored with the Angel Award for their extraordinary contributions to JBF, as well as to the food world at large.
Since 2013, the Powells have supported a range of JBF Impact Programs, such as the Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change, and helped the Foundation to bring together chefs, farmers, food companies, and others in the culinary community to dissect issues and facilitate participation around the biggest challenges facing today’s society, including food waste, sustainable agriculture, and labor equity.
“We are delighted to recognize Chris and Meredith Powell of the Osprey Foundation for their generous support towards our Chefs Boot Camps and broader Impact Programs,” says Kris Moon, vice president of the James Beard Foundation. “Chris and Meredith’s work within the food industry is truly remarkable, and their contributions to the James Beard Foundation have aided us in addressing the issue of sustainability within today’s culinary world. Having one or both of them in attendance at almost every Chefs Boot Camp we’ve hosted since 2013 has provided a valuable connection and resource for chefs who are just beginning to work in more traditional, philanthropic settings.”
In addition to Orange Door Hospitality and their involvement with JBF, the Powells both serve as trustees for the Osprey Foundation—whose goal it is to empower individuals and communities through education, health, economic opportunity, and human rights in a sustainable way. Through the leveraging of strategic grants and partnerships, the Powells have spearheaded the Osprey Foundation’s Good Food Advocacy Movement, aimed at securing easy access to good food for all Americans.
“The James Beard Foundation’s Impact Programs have, in many ways, become the cornerstone of our philanthropic efforts to improve America’s food system,” says Chris Powell. “Whether it is training chefs to be advocates at their Chefs Boot Camps for Policy and Change, convening thought leaders at their annual Food Summit, or the myriad other Impact Programs, the James Beard Foundation’s spirit of innovation and their ability to execute make them the organization to watch in the next decade when it comes to food systems change.”
With the generous support of the Powells and the Osprey Foundation, among others, JBF’s Chefs Boot Camp has been able invite more than 150 chefs to participate in the program since its launch in 2012. Chefs who have participated have gone on to become powerful advocates on issues they deeply connect with, both personally and professionally.
Chris and Meredith Powell are the 20th recipients of the JBF’s Angel Award, which is traditionally bestowed as part of JBF’s Chairman’s Circle event celebrating partnership and support of its higher-level members. First presented in 1994, past honorees of the Angel Award include: Barbara Kafka, Arthur Abelman, Fritz Maytag, Michael Ginor, Diane Kern, Jean-Louis Palladin, Zov Karamardian, Peter Cameron, Don Pritchard, Saori Kawano, Fred Carl, Jr. of Viking Range Corporation, John Washko, George Sape, Tracy McSorley, Victoria Mastrobuono, Michael Phillips, Anne Quatrano, Steven and Joshua Elkes, and Grace Communications Foundation.
