By Robert L. Haught
An Oklahoma writer who turned the spotlight on charitable activities in her community has been selected to receive this year’s Will Rogers Humanitarian Award. Ginnie Graham of the Tulsa World will be presented the award on Friday, June 8, at the annual conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists in Cincinnati.
Graham is being recognized for using her column to let readers know about the charitable acts done by various organizations in the Tulsa area. Some examples:
March 21, 2017 – “For 100 years, the Tulsa Area Alumnae Panhellenic has been supporting causes in the city though scholarships and other philanthropic work.” The women’s group dates to 1916. During World War I they made surgical dressings for the Red Cross and raised money for the war effort. Among their current activities are supporting the Tulsa schools’ Eyeglass Fund and funding scholarships for women.
April 30, 2017 – She wrote about Sophisticated Seconds, a resale shop, a project of Hospice of Green Country, which is a nonprofit providing services to patients and their loved ones when facing end-of-life experiences. She also mentioned another philanthropic business venture, The Market at Pearl, which benefits Children’s Medical Charities for grants to area children’s nonprofits.
November 19, 2017 – Graham told the story of a diabetic whose vision started to deteriorate but who could not afford to see a specialist. He found assistance through a program of the Tulsa County Medical Society that recruits specialists, supportive health providers, and vendors to donate services to low-income patients who cannot pay for care or qualify for government aid.
December 17, 2017 – An example of volunteerism in Tulsa had international implications. A group of teenagers from Kurdistan participated in a summer program of the Tulsa Global Alliance and Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange which showed the youth services that could help refugees and other displaced people. The teenagers returned to their homes in northern Iraq and started a food bank which met a goal of feeding 20 to 30 families a week.
Graham not only writes about local charities, she also has involved herself in the work of some organizations. She has been part of a church social-concerns group which provided bicycles, food, and money to a program specifically for youth homeless outreach. This group also adopts two mission churches in poverty-stricken parts of rural Oklahoma.
She served as president of the Tulsa Area Alumnae Panhellenic 2009-10 and was Woman of the Year in 2013.
Ginnie Netherton Graham joined the Tulsa World staff in 1994 and covered social issues, education, and criminal justice. She has been coordinating the newspaper’s summer internship program since 2002. She was named a news columnist in 2012 and appointed editorial writer in February 2018.
Her past honors include four sweepstakes first-place awards from the Associated Press/ONE chapter and two Reporter-of-the-Year awards from the Great Plains Tulsa Press Club multi-state contest. Graham’s notable stories have included investigations into child abuse and neglect, immigration issues, child-care facilities, and mental health.
A fifth-generation native of Oklahoma, Graham spent her childhood in Grove and is a graduate of the Perry, OK, high school. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master of public administration degree from the University of Oklahoma.
She has been married since 1998 to Jeff Graham, a musician and teacher. They have two children, Louis, 14, and Olivia, 10.
Read Ginnie Graham’s column about moving from columnist to editorial writer HERE .
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Robert L. Haught is a former NSNC officer and board member who developed the Will Rogers Humanitarian Award program and has served as coordinator since its establishment in 1999.
