Eagle Rare Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey named Howard Garrett, a Freeland resident, a winner of the 2015 Rare Life Leadership Award.

Eagle Rare will donate $5,000 to Garrett’s charity, Orca Network, according to a news release. Garrett founded the non-profit organization, which is dedicated to protecting the whales of the Pacific Northwest, in 2001.

Garrett has worked with whales for the past 20 years. His advocacy began with a campaign to bring Lolita, the last survivor of the orcas captured from the Southern Resident community in the 1970s, back home to Puget Sound from the Miami Seaquarium.

The Orca Network and others continue to work towards the goal of setting Lolita free in Puget Sound to join the rest of her family, including her 85-year-old mother. They have also established a backup plan for life-long care in the event she is unable to acclimate back into her natural environment.

The Rare Life Award is a recognition program created to honor individuals who exhibit courage, leadership, survival, devotion, character and heroism, according to the release.

Candidates are nominated by friends, family and colleagues. Their stories and photos are posted online at eaglerarelife.com, where visitors vote after reading their inspirational stories.

Garrett was selected from 259 nominees. The release states that the grand prize winner was Alana Miller, founder of Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary in St. Pauls, N.C. Miller will receive $50,000 for her charity, a cage-free lifetime care facility for blind cats and cats with feline versions of leukemia and AIDS.

Garrett was one of six runners-up receiving $5,000. Each runner-up embodies a characteristic of Rare Life: courage, leadership, heroism, character, devotion and survival, the release states.

For more information on the Rare Life Leadership Award, including a full list of nominees and runners-up, visit eaglerarelife.com.