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At times, Peggy Bradley seems ready to save the world single-handedly. Since the early 1960s Bradley has taken up causes from apartheid and pollution to sustainable agriculture and animal rights. Her current focus is on teaching small-space, hydroponic farming to starving orphans in AIDS-ravaged Africa and to street kids in Mexico.
Home when commended: North America, US, Oregon Home now: North America, US, Oregon Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Rozella "Moms" Bradley of Brooklyn NY has taken in dozens of kids who might otherwise be living on the street. Spending her own savings, Moms Bradley not only feeds, houses and clothes "her" kids, she also coaches their sports teams and cheerleading squads, helps them with their vegetable garden and is always there if they need advice or just someone to talk to.
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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Zachary Bradley of Virginia Beach VA was one of five 6th-graders who pushed for stronger legislation to protect children from unsafe toys. They were patronized and ignored by many adults, but they lobbied their legislators, wrote letters to their local papers, and did research at daycare centers. They appeared before the Virginia Assembly and the U.S. Congress as expert witnesses on toy safety, and a bill they initiated requiring hospital emergency rooms to report any toy-related injuries became law in Virginia. (See also Carissa Frasca, Leslie Gregory, Emily Letts and J. Kyle Massey.)
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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Annette Branche, once a top salesperson for a cemetery, protested when new managers began using bait-and-switch tactics with caskets and burial plots, charging illegal fees, and secretly burying bodies in wetlands. The company offered her $10,000 to keep quiet, but Branche blew the whistle. She pushed for state and federal regulation of the entire cemetery business, going against powerful real-estate and political interests.
Home when commended: North America, US, Maryland Home now: North America, US, Pennsylvania Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Lilyann Brannon of San Jose CA has been a tireless advocate for the homeless, helping them to find jobs and get to appointments feeding hundreds of homeless every weekend in a local park.
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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Arthur Brashear III, Chairman of Tex-O-Hardwoods, Inc., "adopted" the entire Mexican village of Cuba and all its people. The sponsor of 15 children in the village, Brashear is helping augment Save the Children's efforts there by providing a subsidy for the teacher's salary, buying educational equipment, and helping to finance a village piped-water system.
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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Rena Brashear of Ulvah KY used her own meagre resources and overcame threats and insults to establish the first programs in her county to assist children who've been sexually abused. Her work spread beyond her own county, into seven others.
Home when commended: North America, US, Kentucky Home now: North America, US, Kentucky Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Barbara Brenner became an anti-toxic-waste activist when she realized that illnesses in her family were probably due to a huge incinerator near her house in Bellingham WA. Getting no response from politicians, Brenner literally camped out on the State Capitol steps for weeks, lobbying legislators who passed by. Brenner is now director of a citizens' group working for safe waste management and an elected member of the county council.
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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Curtis Brewer of New York City isn’t able to move his arms and legs but he moves mountains. Brewer went to law school and became an advocate for everyone with disablilities, informing people of their rights, representing them in court and getting them access to public buildings.
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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Debbie Brewer 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, US, Wisconsin Home now: North America, US, Wisconsin Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Ed Bricker started working at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in 1983, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather before him. Appalled by inaccurate blueprints, sloppy plutonium handling, and a general lack of safety procedures, he filed complaints with management and his union. The company began a campaign to force him to quit. Bricker blew the whistle and went to work for the State of Washington, monitoring defense waste and radiation at Hanford.
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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Ruth Brinker of San Francisco CA spends all her time and energy meeting the food needs of homebound people with AIDS. Brinker started Project Open Hand in 1985 and soon had hundreds of volunteers serving 650 clients two meals a day, every day of the year.
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 Broad Meadows Kids were seventh-graders in Quincy MA who were shocked by the murder of a young Pakistani who had visited their class. They worked to let the world know that children like the murdered boy are enslaved in factories and raised money to build a school for children in his village.
Home when commended: North America, US, Massachusetts Home now: North America, US, Massachusetts Gender: G (group) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Englishman Stan Brock has been a rancher and bush pilot in the Amazon, host of a tv show and the star of adventure movies. But his biggest job ever is running his nonprofit Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps. RAM flies medical help into areas of the world where people are desperate for medical care; in recent years, that’s included parts of the United States.
Home when commended: North America, US, Tennessee; (originally from Great Britain) Home now: North America, US, Tennessee Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Flo Brooks joined the Peace Corps at the age of 64, trading an affluent life in California for a mud hut in Africa. On her return, she became a tireless recruiter for the Corps, encouraging other seniors to enlist.
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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David Brower of Berkeley CA dedicated his life to making conservation a national cause. As Executive Director of the Sierra Club, founder and chief executive officer of Friends of the Earth, and founder and board chairman of Earth Island Institute, Brower inspired, contrived and maneuvered some of the greatest victories in American environmentalism.
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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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.