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The Chapel’s Humanitarian Service Award aims to recognize and lift up individuals who have demonstrated both a long-term commitment to serving others and a lifestyle marked by simplicity.
The recipient of the award is honored with a grant of up to $3,000 given to the nonprofit they designate. The award has its roots in a relationship between two Duke professors. In 1990, religion professor, sociologist and United Methodist minister C. Eric Lincoln started the Humanitarian Service Award endowment to honor Dr. George R. Parkerson, Jr. former chairman of the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Duke’s School of Medicine. By establishing this endowment, Dr. Lincoln sought to recognize Dr. Parkerson’s “caring love and concern for humanity” and to encourage others to do the same. Both Parkerson and Lincoln have exemplified lives in service of others. Dr. Lincoln’s life was dedicated to service through reconciliation, hospitality, care, mentoring, and ecumenism. Throughout his career, Dr. Parkerson’s concern for humanity has been revealed in his work in family medicine and as he has helped his students “see life whole.” Read about recent recipients of the award.