At the PPFA National Conference in Washington DC in April, our own Darrah DiGiorgio Johnson received the Ruth Green Award for PPFA’s CEO of the year.
Sheri Bonner, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Pasadena & San Gabriel Valley, introduced Darrah at the conference:
“Under her leadership over the past 13 years, her affiliate has more than doubled in terms of the number of patients receiving care, and in the face of tremendous hostility — by the usual suspects — she recently, bravely, opened a health center in one of the most underserved parts of the country near the Mexican border.”
The Ruth Green Award was established in 1981 to honor a remarkable, talented woman who served Planned Parenthood as a volunteer, an executive director, and as an ambassador-at-large for the mission of Planned Parenthood.
The award is the most prestigious recognition Planned Parenthood CEOs can receive from their peers.
In her acceptance speech, Darrah discussed how her tenure at Planned Parenthood changed her life.
“Planned Parenthood has given me the tools to be a better parent and a better person; it’s sustained me when hope in humanity has been really hard to muster; it made me proud to be a woman, a feminist, and a leader; it shaped my thinking about the world and my responsibility in that world,” Darrah said. “It’s given me the same gifts that I think we offer to our patients: resilience and empowerment and the freedom to find and follow a meaningful path.”
Darrah’s speech was both humble and profound, as well as inspiring:
“When we cherish, really cherish, women and girls, when we keep them safe and healthy and we respect them, this world is a much, much, much better place.”
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