Duane Silverstein Wins the Jefferson Awards

Founded in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, U.S. Senator Robert Taft, Jr,. and public servant Sam Beard, the Jefferson Awards were created to honor public service leaders across the country. The awards recognize both national and local leaders, with past nation recipients including the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Oprah Winfrey, and Rev. Jesse Jackson. (A full list of recipients can be found here.)

Duane Silverstein is being awarded the local Jefferson Award by the Bay Area's CBS-5 news team. CBS-5 describes the Jefferson Awards recipients as "ordinary people who do extraordinary things without expectation of recognition or reward." In honoring these leaders, they hope to "inspire others to become involved in community and public service."

CBS-5 reporter Kate Kelly recently interviewed Duane about the journey that led him to Seacology. It was a snorkeling expedition that first inspired him: "I put my head with a snorkel and mask in the water, and my life was changed immediately," Duane says. Since then, he's spent his life fighting for environmental causes, and for the last 10 years, his leadership of Seacology has preserved thousands of acres of island habitat.

You can see Duane's interview and read the full article on the CBS-5 website, at:

http://cbs5.com/jeffersonawards/Jefferson.Awards.Silverstein.2.1455351.html

Congratulations, Duane!