Richard Adams Award

Who is Richard Adams?

Richard Adams was born in Berkshire, England, in 1920, and studied history at Bradfield and Worcester College, Oxford. He is the author of nineteen books, including the best-selling and award-winning "Watership Down", his first book. Richard Adams set the book "Watership Down" in the region he grew up in and where he still currently resides.

On January 13, 1999, Tom Tucker wrote to Richard Adams, author of "Watership Down", describing how Mr. Adams’ book inspired his dream for Camp Fiver. From that moment on Mr. Adams has been an enthusiastic supporter of Fiver and its mission. Mr. Adams has been an honorary board member of the Fiver Foundation since the inception, and he visited camp during its grand opening in June of 2000. In his honor, the Richard Adams Leadership award is bestowed upon community leaders who seek to “make this world a little bit better for all of us.”

2008 Richard Adams Leadership Awardee: Michael H. Barnett

On May 1st, we will be celebrating Fiver’s “Kids with Character” who have and will continue to leave an extraordinary mark on the world.  In that spirit, we are excited to be honoring Michael Barnett.  As a Fiver Board Member, Mike works tirelessly on behalf of the Fiver children, believing that a person’s character is the most important determinant in his or her successes.  An integral part of Fiver from the very beginning, Mike watched as the Fiver Children’s Foundation grew over the years from a summer camp into a year-round, youth development organization.  In his words, “It has been such a reward for me to see how Fiver has evolved.  The fact that we can already see the significant impact the Fiver programs have on our participants’ lives is really something remarkable.”

2007 Richard Adams Leadership Awardee: Terry Schaefer

The mission of the Fiver Children’s Foundation is to inspire our children to hope, dream and believe that only the sky is the limit.  In that spirit, we are excited to honor Ms. Terry Schaefer, who exemplifies the Fiver spirit of limitless possibility. 

A 25 year veteran television producer, Ms. Schaefer began her production career at NBC in 1981 as an entry-level desk assistant then became a production assistant for the Nightly News.  Over the years, driven by optimism and determination, she served as an off-air reporter, assignment editor and producer for the NBC Nightly News.  In 1991 she went to the Today Show, where she still proposes, produces, shoots, writes, and edits tape pieces.  Working closely with Today Show anchors and NBC correspondents, her pieces primarily focus on art, education, culture, popular culture, history, social issues, politics, and race. 

Using her background as an educator, an after-school program director and education lobbyist, Ms. Schaefer is known and respected for telling inspiring and uplifting human-interest stories.  Once nicknamed the “vegetables producer” by an executive producer, Terry focuses on producing stories that are good for us.   

In her own words, "I have always been blown away by all the possibility that exists in the world - countless people in this country are quietly doing great and interesting things.”  Terry tries to tell their stories, stories of possibility, optimism and hope. Sometimes, she says, it is “social work through journalism.” 

Ms. Schaefer produced the Today Show book club and has written live segments on breaking news, prime time news specials, and produced special coverage of elections, inaugurations and other events.  Her travel has included Africa, Russia, Australia, Ireland and Scotland.  Terry holds her Masters of Arts in Teaching from George Washington University and her bachelor of arts from New York University.  She is happily married with four children.

2006 Richard Adams Leadership Awardee: Allan Houston

As a man of faith and strong family values, Allan Houston lives his life with a determination to utilize his success as a professional athlete to help others.  Before his retirement in the Fall of 2005, Allan was touted as one of the “purest shooters” in the NBA, finishing his career as one of the NBA’s all-time greatest long-range shooters and one of the all-time leading scorers in Knicks history.  Allan was a two-time NBA All-Star.  But for all his accomplishments he is especially proud of being named one of The Sporting News’ “Good Guys in Sports” (four times) and helping Team USA bring home the gold medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics games. 

Allan’s dedication to helping others is demonstrated through the exciting work of his Foundation.  The Foundation is continuing to provide quality original programs such as the “Father Knows Best” Basketball Retreat - a weekend event that combines a high-powered basketball clinic with meaningful life-skills lessons for fathers/mentors and their sons/mentees.

Please visit www.AllanHoustonFoundation.org and www.AllanHouston.com for more information.

2005 Richard Adams Leadership Awardee: Christopher J. Williams

Christopher Williams is the President and CEO of the Williams Capital Group, the largest African American-owned brokerage firm in the country.  Chris’ business success is only rivaled by his philanthropic interests and community involvement. In 2002, Mr. Williams was selected by Fortune magazine as one of the 50 most powerful African Americans in corporate America. Chris Williams serves as a member of several not-for-profit boards.  It is for his commitment to the community and personal integrity that we were pleased to honor him.

2004 Richard Adams Leadership Awardee: Jeanne Kane

Jeanne M. Kane, a managing director, is global manager of the Fixed Income Institutional Client Group at Lehman Brothers. Jeanne has more than a dozen years of significant managerial experience with Lehman Brothers. Jeanne is currently co-chair of Lehman Brothers’ Women’s Network (WILL) and is active in firm recruiting. An active participant in promoting women in the workplace, Jeanne was recognized for her work and achievements in 1996 when she was awarded “Woman of the Year” by the YWCA. She is also involved in the Brooklyn Children’s Kindergarten Association and has co-sponsored a scholarship for a high school student to attend LaSalle Academy. For the past six years she has been both a coach and coordinator for the Brooklyn American Youth Soccer Organization.

2003 Richard Adams Leadership Awardee: Bob Genirs

Through his entire career and personal life, Bob worked with a spirit of optimism and hope. He was honored as the first Richard Adams Leadership Award recipient in light of his life philosophy – Learn, Earn, Return.