Giraffe Heroes Database
Letter "M"
Entries beginning with "M"
Wangari Maathai, founder and leader of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, is responsible for planting over 20 million trees, organizing hundreds of seedling nurseries and encouraging women's councils all over the country to plant and maintain greenbelts. Since daring to protest the destruction of a Nairobi park, Maathai has been vilified and persecuted by the government, yet continues to speak out for the preservation of her country's environment.
Home when commended: Africa, Kenya Home now: Africa, Kenya Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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La Tonya Mabry of Berkeley CA was the catalyst of a no-holds-barred, inter-racial, monthly gathering in her home. Mabry withstood flak from her family and the community to host meetings and potlucks that pushed participants beyond the bounds of politeness and superficiality, so that real understanding and friendships were forged across racial lines.
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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Bonnie Jane MacAdams Mele of Randolph NJ draws upon her own experiences as a battered wife to change the responses of police and hospital staffers to victims of domestic abuse. The survivor of a 14-year long abusive marriage, Mele now devotes herself to making the system work for other battered women.
Home when commended: North America, US, New Jersey Home now: North America, US, New Jersey Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Bridgette MacAfee 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 Billy Giese.)
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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Bob Macauley of New Canaan CT began his philanthropic career by mortgaging his home to pay for a chartered flight of 100 Vietnamese infants to the US. Macauley then founded "Americares", a relief organization that is usually the first on the scene in any hot spot. Working 100 hours a week, Macauley calls himself "just a beggar", typically begging $100 million in aid a year to fund Americares' work.
Home when commended: North America, US, Connecticut Home now: North America, US, Connecticut Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Margaret MacDonald of Billings MT braved threats from aryan supremacists and the disapproval of worried neighbors to speak out against an attack on a Jewish home. MacDonald helped lead thousands of Billings residents—Jews and non-Jews alike—to put Jewish menorahs in their windows, despite the possibility that they might also become targets. (See also Sarah Anthony, Wayne Inman, Brian & Tammie Schnitzer and Keith Torney.)
Home when commended: North America, US, Montana Home now: North America, US, Montana Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Molly Murphy MacGregor and Mary Ruthsdotter of Windsor, California have given up their teaching careers, and invested all their time and money into getting the stories of women’s lives told in the nation's history classes. As founders of the National Women's History Project, the two women have gotten March of each year declared a time for studying women's achievements in schools and colleges across the country.
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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Dorothy Mackey of Wooster OH has sheltered a small city's worth of people in her 50-year campaign against homelessness. When her own home overflowed with "guests," she leased three more houses. More than 10,000 people have slept under one or another of Mackey's roofs.
Home when commended: North America, US, Ohio Home now: North America, US, Ohio Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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The volunteers of Macon-Bibb Advocacy in Macon GA are counselors and friends for the mentally handicapped, for unwed mothers and others who need help coping with their daily lives. Macon-Bibb Advocacy volunteers visit, pay bills, handle shopping and deliver food, do home repairs and act as legal guardians.
Home when commended: North America, US, Georgia Home now: North America, US, Georgia Gender: G (group) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Gilberto Macuxi of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil has been beaten, shot, and stabbed, and his family has been abducted, all because of his fight to protect the 14 vanishing tribes of Brazil's Roraima state. Founder of the Association of Indigenous People of Roraima, Macuxi travels on foot from tribe to tribe and by plane to national and international meetings where he speaks for the rights of the tribes to the land where they have lived for centuries.
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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The Mad Housers of Atlanta GA are a group of volunteers who work anonymously to build free huts and small bungalows for the homeless. The innovative idea caught on in in other cities, where groups used a "starter kit" to become Mad Housers too. (See also Mike Connors and Brian Finkel.)
Home when commended: North America, US, Georgia Home now: North America, US, Georgia Gender: G (group) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Bennie Magers of Anderson IN is determined to prevent children from being killed by child abusers, as her own brother was. Magers spends endless volunteer hours investigating suspicous abuse cases, combing public records, tracking down witnesses, and getting abusers arrested.
Home when commended: North America, US, Indiana Home now: North America, US, Indiana Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Orville Magoon of Middletown CA invested 11 years of his life and all his resources in the historically perfect restoration of Lily Langtry's ranch and vineyards on Bucksnort Creek. Magoon passed up the quick-profit possibilities of the land to create a model not only of restoration, but also of sustainable small-scale farming.
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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Peter Maier lost his job at a Salt Lake City engineering firm for speaking out against the State's plans to build three enormous new sewage treatment plants that Maier said were a waste of taxpayers’ money. He recommended upgrading existing smaller plants as a cheaper means to cleaner water. Maier claims the Clean Water Act is an enormous pork barrel that isn’t cleaning up the nation’s water. Off the record, EPA officials have said Maier is right.
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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For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Catherine Malarkey was an executive in an oil company for decades--until she began to point out that the corporation was engaging in discriminatory practices toward employees who were minorities and/or women. Immediately removed from authority, Malarkey nevertheless persisted, winning a lawsuit on behalf of herself and all women and minorities in the corporation.
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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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.
