Natalie Guo, who founded Off Their Plate, a non-profit organization that partners with restaurants to help feed their local communities in crisis, was given the 2021 Eagle Rare Life Award by Buffalo Trace.
The honor is a $50,000 recognition and charitable donation for an individual who, like the award’s namesake bourbon, finds ways to Reach Higher in fulfilling their American Dream.
Guo, who was born in China and immigrated to the U.S. from Sweden as a child, responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by creating a charity that both revives restaurants struggling with quarantine restrictions, and feeds health care workers and community members in need because of the virus.
She was chosen out of dozens of public nominations and is the 11th recipient of the Eagle Rare Life Award.