OWEE founder gets award — The James Beard Foundation announced this week that Denise Cerreta, founder of One World Everybody Eats, has been named a recipient of its 2017 Humanitarian of the Year Award. The board chairman of the nonprofit OWEE is Bend’s Robert Pearson, former founder and manager (in 2010 to 2012) of the Common Table cafe on Oregon Avenue. One World was established in 2005. Pearson has been its board chairman since January 2014. In announcing the award, the James Beard Foundation’s Susan Ungaro said: “Denise’s pay-it-forward cafes are transforming the way community restaurants can help others, who can’t afford dining out, to enjoy a healthy, good meal. I’m hopeful that with the visibility that comes with this award, we’ll be able to identify one or more partners to help establish more of these (restaurants), in Oregon and elsewhere,” Pearson said.

— John Gottberg Anderson, for The Bulletin