Heroes: Executive of the Year

Many organizations would be happy with that output, and why not? Bean's Café was putting a major dent in two of Anchorage's biggest social issues—homelessness and child nutrition. For Sauder, it wasn't enough.

She wanted to do more.

So she set about expanding Bean's Café's Just a Little Extra weekend food program, adding two schools and bringing the total number of schools served to seven. She saved and raised funds for the new sites—each requiring roughly $40,000 a year in funding—and helped to more than double the program's output from 1,200 bags of weekend meals a year to 3,000. She also sought and received funding to create a conference room at Bean's Café's offices, allowing the organization to offer group counseling and other community services, and facilitating partnerships with other social services organizations.