Betty Kwan Chinn has been working with the homeless population in Eureka for almost three decades. She has sought to assist the mentally ill, disabled veterans, runaways, and drug abusers without judgement and without pay. She won the 2008 California Women’s Conference Minerva Award and, working with St. Vincent DePaul Society, used the award money to build a shower and laundry facility with the motto “Restoring dignity one shower at a time.” In 2010, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Citizen’s medal.