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Alan Blum of Houston TX founded Doctors Ought to Care (DOC), sacrificing his time, his earnings and peer disapproval to counteract the commercial promotion of products that damage people’s health. DOC fields counter-advertising campaigns that satirize familiar tobacco and alcohol ads, giving potential customers a doctor's-eye-view of the true value of the products.
Home when commended: North America, US, Texas Home now: North America, US, Texas Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Horrified by race riots in Los Angeles, Diane Bock started "Community Cousins" to recruit and match up families cross-culturally. Bock has devoted all her time and financial resources to this work, and has faced down rejection and opposition. Community Cousins is now spreading and more families are agreeing with Bock that "’They’ are just us."
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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When Fred Boeger was running a dropout program in California, he stumbled onto evidence of financial corruption in the state's school system. He risked everything to blow the whistle and pursued the matter until the high-level thieves went to jail.
Home when commended: North America, US, California Home now: North America, US, Washington Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Grace Lee and James Boggs of Detroit MI are lifelong social activists now heading a state-wide anti-crack movement, even leading pickets outside active crack houses. Respected social thinkers and writers, the couple have been harassed for years by people who disagree with their pro-active positions on social issues.
Home when commended: North America, US, Michigan Home now: North America, US, Michigan Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Grace Lee and James Boggs of Detroit MI are lifelong social activists now heading a state-wide anti-crack movement. They’re leading pickets outside active crack houses. Respected social thinkers and writers, the couple have been harrassed for years by people who disagree with their pro-active positions on social issues.
Home when commended: North America, US, Michigan Home now: North America, US, Michigan Gender: C (couple) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Grace Lee and James Boggs of Detroit MI are lifelong social activists now heading a state-wide anti-crack movement, even leading pickets outside active crack houses. Respected social thinkers and writers, the couple have been harassed for years by people who disagree with their pro-active positions on social issues.
Home when commended: North America, US, Michigan Home now: North America, US, Michigan Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Roger Boisjoly risked his health and career to blow the whistle on his company's role in the Challenger disaster. Opposed to the launch from the start, he was harassed at work and shunned by his neighbors when he testified about the company's malfeasance. He became a consulting engineer, speaking at colleges and corporations on the importance of ethics in business.
Home when commended: North America, US, Utah Home now: North America, US, Utah Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Joan Bokaer of Ithaca NY gave up her teaching position and spent five long years studying the workings of the nuclear arms race and explaining them at public gatherings. As Director of the Citizens Network, Bokaer challenged her many audiences to use their power to prevent nuclear war rather than accepting its inevitability.
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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Tara Boomsma is one of a group of teenaged single mothers who give speeches to their peers, urging them not to make "untimely choices" about sex. Describing their own lives to show how difficult it is to be a teen raising a child, the girls of the School-Age Parent Speakers Bureau remind their peers that sex can have serious consequences.
Home when commended: North America, United States, Wisconsin Home now: North America, United States, Wisconsin Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Ian and Sierra Booth of Ashville NC lost income and even went in debt to create and present "It's About Time," a multimedia theatre piece designed to educate people about global problems and encourage them to work for solutions. The Booths and their children were the cast and production crew.
Home when commended: North America, US, North Carolina Home now: North America, US, North Carolina Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Rev. William Borders, Sr. of Atlanta GA has spent his entire adult life as a tireless advocate for civil rights, helping lead the fight to integrate buses and improve housing for the poor and disadvantaged, despite repeated arrests and threats on his life.
Home when commended: North America, US, Georgia Home now: North America, US, Georgia Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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James Boren of Tahlequah OK spends his own time and money to attack bureaucratic waste, inefficiency and red tape. A former Foreign Service officer, Boren founded the International Association of Professional Bureaucrats. The Association awards the "Order of the Bird" to agencies and companies that exhibit "creative nonresponsiveness," an award most people would rather not receive.
Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Phil Borges left a comfortable career as an orthodontist to help people see each other through photography. Borges and fellow photographers travel the world, helping young people learn to use cameras and so they can share the images of their communities with others around the world.
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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Greg Bowers, an electrical power engineer, has spent years of his life and most of his savings fighting the air pollution produced by an aging coal-burning power plant in Centralia WA. Bowers’ suits have forced a steep reduction in pollution levels, but he fights on because even with the improved standards people are dying. Bowers wants industries that knowingly cause fatalities to deal with the true costs of their actions.
Home when commended: North America, US, Washington Home now: North America, US, Oregon Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Retired Lt. Colonel Robert Bowman of Chesapeake Beach MD, once director of advanced space programs for the Air Force, endured death threats, phone taps, IRS harassment and bribery attempts when he became a leader of efforts to stop “Star Wars.” The founder of the Institute for Space and Security Studies, a non-profit organization for the prevention of nuclear war, he called the Star Wars plan "military lunacy."
Home when commended: North America, US, Maryland Home now: North America, US, Florida Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Frank Boyle of Madison WI, a state legislator, pushed for legislation he believes in, whether or not the voters agreed with him. Boyle has publicly supported a wide range of programs for Native Americans. He co-authored a mandatory-arrest law for domestic abuse and founded the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.
Home when commended: North America, US, Wisconsin Home now: North America, US, Wisconsin Gender: M (male) 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.