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Inaugural FECK Awards Honor Four Extraordinary Changemakers Championing Forgiveness, Empathy, Compassion, and Kindness
Created by entertainment industry leader and philanthropist Chaz Ebert, the 2026 winners will be recognized at the FECK Awards live event in Chicago on April 4
Chicago (March 18, 2026) – The FECK Awards, a powerful new national recognition program celebrating individuals who embody the transformative values of Forgiveness, Empathy, Compassion, and Kindness, today revealed the winners of its inaugural awards.
Created by Chaz Ebert, CEO of Ebert Digital LLC and a longtime champion of empathy in storytelling and leadership, the FECK Awards were inspired by the principles outlined in her book It’s Time to Give a FECK: Elevating Humanity Through Forgiveness, Empathy, Compassion, and Kindness.
The FECK Awards are more than a typical award; they are a call to action, honoring everyday heroes and leaders whose actions are helping to build a more humane, understanding, and compassionate world.
After a nationwide search for nominees, the 2026 FECK Award winners are:
- Forgiveness – Azim Khamisa and the Tariq Khamisa Foundation (San Diego, California)
After his son Tariq Khamisa was tragically killed in 1995 during a gang initiation robbery, Azim Khamisa made the extraordinary choice to forgive the teenage offender responsible. Instead of allowing grief to turn into hatred, Khamisa partnered with the young man’s grandfather, Ples Felix, to found the Tariq Khamisa Foundation, dedicated to stopping youth violence. For more than three decades, the organization has reached more than two million young people with programs promoting accountability, forgiveness, and nonviolence.
Honorable Mention: Judge Kathleen Coffey, Founder of the Homeless Court at Boston’s Pine Street Inn (Boston, MA) – Each month for 15 years before retiring in late 2025, Judge Coffey transformed a room at the Pine Street Inn homeless shelter into a courtroom where people experiencing homelessness, facing misdemeanors, nonviolent felonies, or default warrants, could come before her to be heard and have their cases adjudicated, allowing individuals to rebuild dignity and self-respect through employment, housing and other opportunities.
- Empathy – Melvin Parson (Ypsilanti, Michigan)
Melvin Parson, founder of the We the People Growers Association and We the People Opportunity Farm has transformed lives through urban agriculture and second-chance employment. After experiencing incarceration, homelessness, and addiction earlier in life, Parson built a program that created dignified jobs and workforce training through soil-changing opportunities, growing and selling fresh farm foods and creating the Good Soil Café. This helped formerly incarcerated individuals to foster understanding, opportunity, and healing while reducing recidivism. We were saddened to hear about Melvin’s recent passing on March 5, 2026.
Honorable Mention: The Cancer Cartel (Enumclaw, WA) – Founded by three remarkable cancer survivors, Cancer Cartel was born from their shared experience of fighting cancer and understanding firsthand the overwhelming financial burdens that come with it.
- Compassion – Jayera Griffin (Riverdale, Illinois)
Jayera Griffin began serving her community at just 14 years old by organizing free laundry days so students could have clean clothes for school. Now 22 and graduating from Western Illinois University in 2026 with plans to become an elementary school teacher, Griffin continues to lead initiatives that support and uplift her community, including organizing CPR and AED training for young people, collecting clothing for seniors, and organizing school supply drives and holiday programs for neighborhood families.
Honorable Mention: Michael Airhart, Founder of Taste for the Homeless (Chicago, IL) – Taste for the Homeless provides services to uplift homeless people and those living in shelters to become contributing citizens by providing hot food, clothing, hygiene items, and social services.
- Kindness – David Luplow Jr. (South Elgin, Illinois)
David Luplow Jr., 35, who was born with Down Syndrome, demonstrates the profound impact one person’s generosity can have. Each year, he saves his earnings to purchase toys for his local fire district’s Toys for Tots drive. In 2025 alone, he donated nearly 100 toys, inspiring an outpouring of additional donations from the community. At Rising Lights Project, a learning space for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities, Luplow is known for his quiet acts of kindness that inspire a ripple effect in the community.
Honorable Mention: Hector and Diane Corona, Founders of City Kids Camp (Chicago, IL) – City Kids Camp is a free summer camp for children from economically disadvantaged communities, allowing them to experience a true outdoor adventure in a peaceful environment.
“These awards were born out of a simple but urgent belief—that the world needs more forgiveness, empathy, compassion, and kindness,” said Chaz Ebert. “When I wrote It’s Time to Give a FECK, I hoped to spark a movement that celebrates these values in action. Our inaugural honorees embody what it truly means to ‘give a FECK.’ Their stories remind us that each of us has the power to uplift others and help create a kinder and more compassionate world.”
The FECK Awards will be presented during a live celebration in Chicago on April 4, 2026, with an inspiring evening of storytelling, celebration, and community honoring these remarkable individuals and the values they represent. Tickets and event details are available at giveafeck.com.
For media inquiries: Contact Bonnie Rice at Elevate Communications, [email protected].
For event sponsorship opportunities: Contact Sonia Evans at [email protected].
About Chaz Ebert
Chaz Ebert is the CEO of Ebert Digital LLC, publisher of the preeminent movie review site RogerEbert.com; TV and movie producer at Ebert Productions; and author of the indie best-seller It’s Time to Give a FECK: Elevating Humanity Through Forgiveness, Empathy, Compassion and Kindness. For twenty-four years, she shared a life with Pulitzer Prize-winner Roger Ebert. In their work to foster empathy through cinema, they established the Ebertfest Film Festival and the Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Chaz has passionately continued to lead all events while nurturing film critics, filmmakers, and technologists. She awards the Golden Thumb and Ebert Humanitarian Awards to filmmakers who exhibit an unusually compassionate view of the world. In 2025 she instituted the inaugural FECK Awards.
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Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
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