The third annual "Night Among Heroes" was held Saturday, November 13, 2004. As in years past, we honored five local citizens who have done distinguished work to improve their communities. The featured speaker was Robert D. Putnam, Professor of Public Policy at Harvard. Professor Putnam's work focuses on civic engagement in America, and he is the author of numerous books, including the best-selling Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.

Professor Putnam is a member of our Advisory Board and has been a steady source of help and insight as we pursue our mission of civic engagement.

The 2004 winner of the Thomas C. Wales Award for Passionate Citizenship was Julia Bolz. In 1997, Julia left a comfortable life as an attorney to provide legal and policy development assistance in Africa, Central America and Central Asia. Most recently, Julia has applied her skills and energy to address the plight of Afghani girls, who have long suffered under the Taliban's repressive policies toward women. Julia founded the Adopt an Afghan School program to establish cultural ties between Afghanistan and a Seattle public school. With Julia's help and leadership, and partially aided by donations from Seattle students, two schools for girls have been constructed in Afghanistan.

Four other Puget Sound community leaders received honorable mention from the Foundation as 2004 finalists: Beverly Graham, Blaise Judja-Sato, Bruce Nguyen, and Julia Pritt.