Jeff Gibbs of Vancouver BC has fought to save the world's ancient forests since he was 14. He worked so hard and long to help save Canada's Queen Charlotte Islands from clearcutting that he was adopted by the Haida Nation. He founded an international network of environmental youth clubs, and has traveled the world to protect the remaining ancient forests.
Home when commended: North America, Canada, BC Home now: North America, Canada, BC Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Lois Gibbs of Falls Church VA was a young housewife and mother when she and other residents of Love Canal NY learned their homes were built on a toxic waste dump. Gibbs was so shy she quit her first door-to-door campaign after knocking on one door. Fighting her fear, she spearheaded the effort to get all residents relocated and went on to found the Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste to help other toxin-plagued communities.
Home when commended: North America, US, Virginia Home now: North America, US, Virginia Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Billy Giese of Everett WA was one of a group of high school students who wrote and put on a play in response to the deaths of two popular classmates. They were met with resistance from their teacher, the administration, and their friends, but these teens persisted. The play was a critical success—but more important to these young performers—the play helped their peers and the entire community deal with their shock and grief. (See also Grant Pavolka, Shelley Honingbaum, Kristin Kusnic, Julia Endicott, Cathleen Bakker and Bridgette MacAfee.)
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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Sidney Gilbert of New York NY founded Architects Designers & Planners for Social Responsibility in the 1980s to promote peace by building friendships with peers in the Soviet Union. Despite criticism and the loss of time for his own work, Gilbert worked to ensure that the beautiful buildings he and his fellow professionals made—and the people in them—would survive.
Home when commended: North America, US, New York Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Ginny Gilder of Seattle WA threw everything she'd learned as an MBA and an Olympic medalist into helping women on public assistance transform their lives and join the work force. Without pay, without precedent and with strong criticism from social work professionals, Gilder pioneered a successful non-profit program that changed women's lives and has been widely copied.
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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Sarri Gilman, a school counsellor in Everett WA, was so distressed by the need for housing for abused and runaway teenagers that she talked the Lions Club into buying a suitable house for the kids and leasing it to her rent-free, even though she had no operating money and no track record of running such a home. Her "Cocoon House" shelters kids who otherwise would be prey to dealers and pimps.
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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Pat and Tom Gish took their small, rural Kentucky newspaper behind the previously closed doors of local government and businesses, finding there corruption, fraud and environmental dangers. Despite threats, advertising boycotts and even a fire bomb, their paper, The Mountain Eagle, "still screams."
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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Pat and Tom Gish took their small, rural Kentucky newspaper behind the previously closed doors of local government and businesses, finding there corruption, fraud and environmental dangers. Despite threats, advertising boycotts and even a fire bomb, their paper, The Mountain Eagle, "still screams."
Home when commended: North America, US, Kentucky Home now: North America, US, Kentucky Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Pat and Tom Gish took their small, rural Kentucky newspaper behind the previously closed doors of local government and businesses, finding there corruption, fraud and environmental dangers. Despite threats, advertising boycotts and even a fire bomb, their paper, The Mountain Eagle, "still screams."
Home when commended: North America, US, Kentucky Home now: North America, US, Kentucky Gender: C (couple) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Eugene Gitelson of Upper Montclair NJ left his own successful career to help fellow Vietnam vets find jobs, career paths, and dignity through his Vietnam Veterans' Leadership Program. The program placed over a thousand vets in well-paying jobs.
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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Fifth graders Janine Givens and Lee Palmer of Andover MA successfully challenged the public library's right to deny children access to the main library after they themselves were "caught" in the biography section and dispatched in disgrace to the children's room.
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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David Goerlitz of Berlin NJ, a former "Winston Man," sacrificed his lucrative modelling career to fight against the tobacco industry's efforts to recruit young smokers. Goerlitz tours schools educating kids about the unglamorous realities of smoking.
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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Pat Goff, Sue Ellen White-Hansen, Steve Shapiro, Debora Valis, Neil Colburn, Candace Culver, Jerry Sanders, Sylvia Sanders, Harry Wilbert, Myrl Wilbert and Jack Noel were members of Save the Trees, a group that worked fifteen years to save the last old-growth trees on Whidbey Island in Washington. These islanders began by standing in front of the ancient trees as heavy machinery moved toward them. They went on to lobby public officials and go through the courts, winning a long battle to protect not only their island’s last giant trees, but also other old-growth throughout the state.
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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Lorraine Golden of Louisville KY left her successful private chiropractic practice to found and sustain the Kentuckiana Children's Center, providing free all-around care for handicapped children since 1961.
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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Tom Goodwin of Sacramento CA started AirLifeLine and 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.
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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Aaron Gordon of Miami FL was 8 years old when a near-accident on a school bus "like, jolted me from my seat." Determined to get seatbelts installed on the buses, he collected thousands of signatures on petitions, lobbied the state legislature, the Secretary of Education, his Congressperson, and the School Board. His State Representative got the Center for Urban Transportation Research to begin working on a new shoulder restraint with design features suggested by Aaron Gordon.
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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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.