Physician John Cannell of Albuquerque NM invested thousands of dollars and endless hours in uncovering a major scam in national educational testing. Through Friends for Education, the nonprofit he started, Cannell filed consumer fraud complaints in all 50 states and called national attention to fraudulent school testing.
Home when commended: North America, US, New Mexico Home now: North America, US, West Virginia Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Robin Cannon, her sister Sheila Cannon, and their friend Charlotte Bullock didn’t think it was a good idea to build a multi-million-dollar garbage incinerator that would spew toxic pollution into their low-income neighborhood in south central Los Angeles. By organizing local resistance, networking with environmental groups and working day and night, the women stopped the plan.
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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Sheila Cannon, her sister Robin Cannon, and their friend Charlotte Bullock didn’t think it was a good idea to build a multi-million-dollar garbage incinerator that would spew toxic pollution into their low-income neighborhood in south central Los Angeles. By organizing local resistance, networking with environmental groups and working day and night, the women stopped the plan.
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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Patricio Carbacho, a Chilean Army Captain during the 1973 military coup in his country, refused orders to abuse and kill prisoners, protecting them instead. Carbacho was arrested for treason, tortured and imprisoned for life. Impressed by his acts of conscience, the US government lobbied for his release; Carbacho was freed and allowed to move to the US.
Home when commended: North America, US, Maryland Home now: North America, US, Maryland Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Sarah Cardona, Angie Camacho, Paloma Camacho, Fernando Becerra, Annette Martinez, Dana Page, Horacio Romero, Rosalinda Ugalde, Raul Velasquez and Alejandro Velasquez are leaders of Earth Niños at the Humphreys School in East Los Angeles. Giving up endless hours of their own time and braving the ridicule of other kids, these 6th-graders planted more than 100 trees at their school and at Occidental College, beautified their neighborhood by planting flowers, picked up tons of litter on their school grounds and around the neighborhood, and led Los Angeles' Unified School District in starting an aluminum recycling project.
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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US Customs agent John Carman of San Diego CA blew the whistle on corrupt customs officials. Despite being threatened, assigned to a job that made him sick from fumes, having the brakes on his car tampered with, being run off the road and finally fired, Carman continued to press his charges.
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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Farmer Leon Carney of Chandler MN worked for decades to restore much of his land as a natural prairie. So when his farm was scheduled by his county for herbicide spraying, Carney stood on the land so the plane had to withdraw. He later sued the county when they sprayed in his absence, killing most of the native trees he’d planted. Carney finally won the case and continued his crusade, in spite of threats on his life and the poisoning of his prize draft horses.
Home when commended: North America, US, Minnesota Home now: North America, US, Minnesota Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Lettie Gay Carson of Newton PA was commended for a lifetime of sticking her neck out for causes she believes in including preserving the nation’s railroads, building more public libraries, improving schools and cleaning up civic governments.
Home when commended: North America, US, Pennsylvania Home now: North America, US, Pennsylvania Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Jimmy Carter of Plains GA has ignored all precedents for former US presidents, devoting long hours to carpentry work as a Habitat for Humanity volunteer.
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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Lynne Cartsunis of Dallas TX quit her job as an Assistant D.A. to champion the victims of child abuse. At her own expense, she got all the agencies involved to change the ways they handle these very young crime victims.
Home when commended: North America, US, Texas Home now: North America, US, Texas Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Amy Carwell of La Grange GA is a behind-the-scenes volunteer for the Cities in Schools program. Though her teen peers taunt her about her unusual use of her time, Amy tutors and helps find jobs for the disadvantaged CIS students and drives them to classes and job interviews.
Home when commended: North America, US, Georgia Home now: North America, US, Georgia Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Robin Casarjian of Boston MA has risked both her income as a psychotherapist and her personal safety to help inmates in prisons. In addition to working in prisons in person, she's given prisons across the country 65,000 copies of her book on emotional maturity and stability, the keys to inmates restarting their lives in a positive direction.
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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Ray Castellani of Tarzana CA lost his family and his acting career to alcohol abuse. Sober after years of drifting and homelessness, he began helping the people with whom he had shared the streets, distributing sandwiches from the back of the pickup truck he was living in. The operation expanded to two trucks and more than a hundred volunteers. With only a minuscule budget, fulltime volunteer Castellani and his Frontline Foundation are cooking and serving more than 1,600 meals a week.
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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Attorney Jose Carlos Castro of Para, Brazil, is a fearless defender of the landless and poor in a region where land and political disputes are behind 100 murders a month. He rallied international support to the Kaiapo Indians when they spoke out against a dam that would flood their ancestral homelands.
Home when commended: South America, Brazil Home now: South America, Brazil Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Linda Caswell of Grayling MI fights companies that are polluting northern Michigan's air, despite shunning and threats from neighbors concerned about the possible loss of jobs should the companies be forced to stop emitting toxins.
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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Attorney John Caughlan of Seattle WA represented the oppressed for over 50 years. Ever diligent in his pursuit of justice, Caughlan never turned away from a tough fight in defense of an underdog, nor from a client without funds. Caughlan has been fired, harassed, and even kicked out of the American Civil Liberties Union for defending "objectionable" clients.
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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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.