When PETA President Ingrid Newkirk was in Phoenix as part of her nationwide Naked Truth speaking tour, she had the opportunity to recognize two wonderful individuals who help animals in very different—but equally inspiring—ways: Arizona State University (ASU) student Katherine Gross and chef Damon Brasch, who owns two local vegan restaurants.

Katherine Gross

Katherine is the ASU campus representative for peta2—PETA’s division geared especially toward high school and college students. Katherine gathered thousands of signatures to convince ASU to add vegan stations in every dining hall on campus. ASU has the most students of any college in America, so this was a huge achievement—but as if that weren’t enough, she got vegan stations added at ASU’s satellite campuses, too!

Katherine is like the Energizer Bunny, always on the move—for animals. She’s distributed free vegan food to students, put up animal rights exhibits on campus, and led demonstrations to get people to think of the harm involved in eating, wearing, and experimenting on animals. She has organized protests against circuses and other animal exploiters, too.

Each year, PETA awards the Matthew Eyton Activist Award—created by Matthew’s mother in his memory—to a promising young activist. This year’s prize went to Katherine for her kindness, courage, and tenacity.

Damon Brasch

Damon’s restaurants, Nami and Green New American Vegetarian, are keeping vegans in Phoenix well-fed—and helping to convert meat-eaters into vegans. Ingrid was delighted to present Damon with PETA’s Compassionate Business Award on behalf of everyone at PETA and all who support animal-friendly dining.

Green New American Vegetarian has made PETA’s top-10-in-the-nation lists twice, once for having the best vegan Buffalo wings and once for having the best vegan chicken sandwich. In fact, Green’s BBQ chicken sandwich won the coveted number one spot on PETA’s national list.

Nami, which is right next door, offers vegan soft-serve ice cream as well as vegan doughnuts. One customer took a photo of her doughnut and tweeted it with the hashtag #whatveganseat and the caption, “We are donutarians.” Congratulations to Damon for cracking the vegan doughnut code and for his well-deserved award.

Are You PETA’s Next Award Winner?

Animals have real friends in Katherine and Damon and all of you who work to stop animal suffering. Your efforts help animals—and that inspires others to help animals, too. Keep up the good fight! Who knows? Maybe Ingrid will honor you the next time she’s in your city.