Meet Our 2026 Making Waves Award Winners!
Boreal Waters Community Foundation is celebrating nine individuals and organizations through our inaugural Making Waves Awards!
Making Waves: A Celebration of Shared Impact honors the people, ideas, generosity, and partnerships that make our communities special. Our inaugural 2026 awardees were selected through nominations from community members, our regional affiliate communities, and the Boreal Waters team.
Each awardee has a story worth celebrating and a unique way of making a difference.
Together, they remind us of the remarkable things that happen when people step up, reach out, and create opportunities for others.
Meet our 2026 Making Waves Award winners
Regional Impact Award
Awardees: Sue Hennessy, Jon Hoel, Liz Seefeldt, and Kitty Mayo
The Regional Impact Award recognizes an outstanding individual from each of our affiliate communities whose leadership strengthens their community and contributes to the well-being of the broader Northland.
This year, we’re recognizing four individuals whose contributions reflect the importance of local leadership and community connection:
- Cook County: Sue Hennessy, Artistic/Technical Director for Grand Marais Playhouse
- Eveleth: Jon Hoel, Miners National Bank and outgoing chair of the Eveleth Community Foundation Fund Advisory Board
- South Shore: Liz Seefeldt, Executive Director for The BRICK Ministries
- Two Harbors: Kitty Mayo, Editor of the Lake County Press
By recognizing one individual from each of our affiliate communities, this award celebrates the people who help their communities grow stronger while contributing to the collective well-being of the region.
Evergreen Impact Award
Awardees: Phil and Babs Strom
The Evergreen Impact Award honors a donor or fund advisor whose giving creates enduring impact. Like the evergreen forests that define our landscape, this commitment remains steady, supporting community needs in the present while helping strengthen the future for generations to come.
This year, we’re proud to recognize Phil and Babs Strom for their lasting commitment to community giving.
Phil and Babs' philanthropic leadership has touched countless lives across the North Shore and beyond. Through their designated fund benefiting North Shore Community School, they have supported a naturalist position, helping students develop a deeper connection to the natural world and the place they call home. Through their donor-advised fund, they have directed significant philanthropic support to many worthy local nonprofit organizations, advancing important work across a wide range of community needs.
In addition, their vision and encouragement were instrumental in helping North Shore Community School establish its own Endowment Fund. That endowment is already providing meaningful, lasting support to further the school's mission and ensure its long-term strength and sustainability.
Through their generosity and vision, Phil and Babs have created a lasting impact across the North Shore and beyond. Their enduring commitment makes them fitting inaugural recipients of the Evergreen Impact Award! Jessica Peterson, Development Director, Boreal Waters Community Foundation
Legacy of Learning Award
Awardee: Penny Gill
The Legacy of Learning Award recognizes a scholarship fund advisor or donor who invests in those opportunities. By supporting students as they pursue their educational goals, these donors help make learning more accessible and create possibilities that extend well beyond the classroom.
This year’s awardee is Penny Gill, whose recognition celebrates the lasting value of investing in students and their futures.
Every student has their own path, goals, and ideas for what comes next. Support from scholarship donors helps more students take that next step and build a future of their own.
Penny Gill founded the Four Directions Scholarship Fund for Native Students with the kind of passion that opens doors and makes this world a better place. Having spent 45 years as a professor and some or all of the last 35 years living on Madeline Island, she wishes to share gratitude for her wonderful life with her Ojibwe neighbors, the original residents and caretakers of the island. She has definitively established a legacy of learning that will make a difference across generations. Peter Pfankuch, Regional Community Impact Specialist, Boreal Waters Community Foundation
Bridge Builder Award
Awardee: Larry Pajari
The Bridge Builder Award celebrates an individual who creates spaces where people feel seen, valued, and heard. Through deep listening, authentic relationships, and a commitment to inclusion, a bridge builder helps people find common ground and reminds us that our well-being is connected.
This year, we’re recognizing Larry Pajari, the Executive Director of Northwood Children's Services, with the Bridge Builder Award.
Larry is a rare exception—a man who leaves an indelible mark on the world but gently refuses to take the credit. He is guided by an unshakeable moral compass and a big heart...Every decision he makes is mission-driven. While others focus too much on data points and budgets, Larry looks at families. He values honest feedback, champions the dignity of hard work, and lives by a singular, non-negotiable rule: kids always come first. Jacqueline Ingrouille
The award celebrates the importance of relationships in community life and the people who help strengthen them. When people feel welcome and connected, there are more opportunities to work together, learn from one another, and move forward as a community.
Making Waves Award
Awardees: Stone Soup Cafe and Harm Reduction Sisters
The Making Waves Award recognizes local nonprofit organizations that are putting innovative ideas into action. The award honors a specific program, project, or initiative launched within the past three years that takes a new or creative approach and is making a meaningful difference in its community.
Two awards were given out, recognizing organizations of different sizes:
Stone Soup Cafe, Ashland
Stone Soup Cafe began serving meals in November of 2022 out of the basement of a church before finally incorporating as a nonprofit. In 2024, they launched their own physical location and became a Main Street food staple, serving 3 meals per week. As a pay-as-you-can restaurant, they are almost completely volunteer staffed and have made themselves a vibrant community in a small town struggling with food insecurity. So few places exist with this model yet feel like a true food establishment, and they've done an excellent job creating a welcoming environment that makes all feel welcome. Alex Faber
Harm Reduction Sisters, Duluth
They are down to earth and meet folks with kindness and another day. Through Harm Reduction Sisters, folks struggling with drug addiction and trauma are supported and given another day alive. Over time the struggle can become less, and folks can begin again. It’s an amazing place staffed with loving capable folks who believe in folks. Carolyn Olson
The Making Waves award celebrates nonprofit organizations that are willing to rethink what’s possible and put new ideas into practice. Their work reflects the creativity, care, and commitment that help communities respond to challenges and create new opportunities.
Join us in celebrating this year’s awardees.
Boreal Waters will recognize the 2026 Making Waves Award winners at Making Waves: A Celebration of Shared Impact on November 10, 2026, at the Great Lakes Aquarium. The evening will bring together donors, nonprofit leaders, business leaders, and community partners to celebrate the people and partnerships helping improve quality of life in our communities.