Fazle Abed of Dhaka, Bangladesh left a well-paying job to start and run a non-governmental effort to aid Bangladeshis who were suffering from the devastation of war and desperate poverty. In the decades since, his nonprofit, BRAC, has served more than 110 million people.
Home when commended: Asia, Bangladesh Home now: Asia, Bangladesh Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Alexander Abraham of New York NY and his daughter Nancy Abraham put their own time, money and connections on the line to create more than a hundred units of safe, affordable housing for the city's needy, in less than four years. Their transitional housing for women provides residents with job counseling, child care and tutoring.
Home when commended: North America, US, New York Home now: North America, US, New York Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Nancy Abraham of New York NY and her father, Alexander Abraham, put their own time, money, and connections on the line to create--in less than four years--more than 100 units of safe, transitional housing for formerly homeless women, providing them with job counseling, child care and tutoring as well as shelter.
Home when commended: North America, US, New York Home now: North America, US, New York Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Ali AbuTaha of Herndon VA is an aerospace engineer who challenged NASA's findings on space shuttle safety, devoting two years of his life and all his savings to making his own report on the Challenger disaster. Aeronautics experts across the country studied AbuTaha's findings and decided he was onto something, but he was blackballed in the space industry. His finding were finally adopted by NASA, without credit to him
Home when commended: North America, US, Washington DC Home now: North America, US, Washington DC Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Sarah Acheson of Seattle WA started volunteering at an AIDS hospice when she was eight years old, making drawings for the walls, making friends, and fundraising for the hospice with a lemonade stand in her neighborhood. Despite the prevailing fears of the time, she overcame other kids' criticism and fear to enlist them in helping out too.
Home when commended: North America, US, Washington Home now: North America, US, Washington Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Patch Adams of Arlington VA founded the Gesundheit Institute, a free medical clinic that he supported by working night shifts at a mental hospital. Known as the "Clown Prince of Medicine," Adams does a traveling "medicine show" using humor to teach the public about health, and doctors about getting back to the love of healing.
Home when commended: North America, US, Virginia Home now: North America, US, Virginia Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Travis Adreon, a student and former addict, went public about his own past and made himself available 24 hours a day to anyone with a substance abuse problem. Adreon's openness cost him friends from both his athletic and his drug-using days.
Home when commended: North America, US, Washington Home now: North America, US, Washington Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Marti Aggeler, Julie DeRossi and Tolbert McCarroll of Santa Rosa CA, all members of the Starcross Community, endured community ostracism to care for AIDS babies. They have been foster parents to unwanted children for years. The Starcross Community is also involved in advocacy work for children with AIDS, street outreach for high-risk women, and care of HIV-positive orphans in Romania.
Home when commended: North America, US, California Home now: North America, US, California Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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The volunteers of AIDS Project Los Angeles provide crucial support to people with AIDS at the same time that they work to keep AIDS from spreading. Over 1,000 APLA volunteers offer social casework, food, shelter, and emotional support to more than 900 people with AIDS.
Home when commended: North America, US, California Home now: North America, US, California Gender: G (group) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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AirLifeLine has enrolled hundreds of volunteer pilots across the country who donate their skill, planes and flying costs to help people without funds get the medical attention they need. AirLifeLine pilots are ready to fly 24/7. (See also Tom Goodwin)
Home when commended: North America, US, California Home now: North America, US, California Gender: G (group) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Earl “Toxic Tex” Aldridge gave up his livelihood and risked his health and safety to challenge the polluting of his hometown, Jersey City NJ. Aldridge personally identified polluters and brought actions to make them clean up their messes, even when the polluters threatened him and the chemicals involved made him ill.
Home when commended: North America, US, New Jersey Home now: North America, US, New Jersey Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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After a friend was hit by a car while playing in the street, 12-year-old James Ale of Davie FL successfully lobbied the city for a playground in his neighborhood so kids would have a safe place to play. The mayor of Davie said, “James Ale could teach a lot of adults about lobbying local government.”
Home when commended: North America, US, Florida Home now: North America, US, Florida Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Elaine Alexander of St Louis MO taught science until she saw how energized students were when they did community service. She gave up her secure teaching position and, with no staff and no precedents, devoted herself to creating a program that enlisted kids in 18 schools to do thousands of hours of service work for over 350 community agencies.
Home when commended: North America, US, Missouri Home now: North America, US, Missouri Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Jane Alexander of Boston MA works round-the-clock, pouring her time and energy into serving healthy meals to homeless women who have no place to go during the day. With just a few donations and free space in a church, Alexander creates an atmosphere in which each woman is treated like a sister.
Home when commended: North America, US, Massachusetts Home now: North America, US, Massachusetts Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Peter Alexander of Alhambra CA put himself at physical risk to help rehab troubled teens in L.A. While holding down a full-time job as an engineer, Alexander worked countless hours at his nonprofit, Youth at Risk, an intensive course for gang members and out-of-control teens.
Home when commended: North America, US, California Home now: North America, US, California Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Virginia Allen and Eddy Liedke of Kansas City MO co-founded the Good Samaritan Project, providing professional and lay volunteers to meet the needs of people with AIDS and HIV. Working 80-hour weeks with little financial support, Liedke and Allen gained wide support for the Project which, within a year, had 150 volunteers and was running a hospice for people with AIDS.
Home when commended: North America, US, Missouri Home now: North America, US, Missouri Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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1 Way 2 Help
FIND GIRAFFES
Please note
We're adding stories and photos to the Giraffe Heroes database everyday. If information isn't visible yet, know that we're working on it.
YOU & THE FOUNDER
From time to time, Ann Medlock, this Project's founder, does a brief but inspiring email called Heads Up. You can check out past copies here. They're so good (and so free) we bet you'll join the Heads Up circle and send them on to friends & family.
For further wit & wisdom from Ann, check out her speeches, radio commentaries and OpEds.