Giraffe Heroes Database
Letter "P"
Entries beginning with "P"
Gordon Packard and Nancy Bissell of Tucson AZ overcame enormous community opposition to provide food and shelter for the city's homeless. In addition to the endless unpaid hours they spend in working with the homeless, the couple also take time to educate the public on the issue of homelessness.
Home when commended: North America, US, Arizona Home now: North America, US, Arizona Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Dana Page, Angie Camacho, Paloma Camacho, Sarah Cardona, Fernando Becerra, Annette Martinez, 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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Paulino Paiakan of Para, Brazil has continually put his life at risk to speak out on behalf of his endangered people's ancient way of life. With fellow tribesman Kube-I Kaiapo, Paiakan brought international attention and support to Kaiapo tribe members charged by the Brazilian government with "interfering in the country's internal affairs" because 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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Fifth graders Lee Palmer and Janine Givens 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: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Unga Paren of Borneo is fighting to preserve the rainforest in which the Penan and Kelabit hunter-gatherers have always lived. When Paren and his allies were unable to stop clearcutters with non-violent road blockades and petitions to the government, they overcame their fears of leaving their world for the first time, slipped past authorities, and embarked on an international campaign to tell the world their story. (See also Mutang Tu’o, Andy Mutang, Thom Henley and Bruno Manser.)
Home when commended: Asia, Borneo Home now: Asia, Malaysia Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Alice Parker of Trenton NJ has devoted her life to helping the homeless and hungry, starting Trenton's first soup kitchen and a homeless shelter for women and children. Known as the "Angel of Trenton," Parker herself sleeps at a shelter where almost all the guests are addicts.
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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Rev. Dave Parker, Bob Drake, and other volunteers of Keystone Enterprises helped turn their high-unemployment mining community from a passive mindset into the excitement and dignity of entrepreneurship. Keystone members create employment opportunities for themselves and show others how to do the same.
Home when commended: North America, US, West Virginia Home now: North America, US, West Virginia Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Jon Parker of Boston MA, a former drug addict, founded the National AIDS Brigade. He and his fellow Brigaders defy Massachusetts law to distribute clean needles and AIDS prevention kits to drug addicts, spending their own money to fund the program, and returning to the work after each arrest. (See also Joe McGrath and Karen Nevins.)
Home when commended: North America, US, Massachusetts Home now: North America, US, Massachusetts Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Danaan Parry of Bainbridge Island WA has devoted his life to world peace, working with Muslims and Christians in Pakistan, with Catholics and Protestants in Belfast, and leading "citizen diplomacy" missions to the Soviet Union and to the Middle East. Parry also runs "PeaceTrees,” bringing together kids of different cultures to plant trees.
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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Dan Patterson of Seattle WA, an Emmy award-winning producer of documentaries for the City, spent four years pursuing a sexual harassment case against his former boss, persevering even though he was shunned at work, lost his job for ten months, and almost lost his home. Patterson says the issue is the misuse of power; he is determined to see that no employees are harassed by their supervisors.
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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Elizabeth Paul of Boise ID was jeered and called names when she started travelling around in her old pickup to educate Idahoans about the dangers of a proposed plutonium processing plant. For three years she led the Snake River Alliance, challenging the need for the facility, questioning plant safety, and rallying so many people against the project that it was finally killed.
Home when commended: North America, US, Idaho Home now: North America, US, Idaho Gender: F (female) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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Grant Pavolka 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 Bridgette MacAfee, 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: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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George Pearson of the Bronx NY and his partner, George Hankins, both police officers, pooled their savings and hocked their pensions to start a youth center for troubled teens in the Bronx.
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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Fran Peavey of San Francisco CA is a writer and performer who's made social entrepreneuring her primary work, touring the world's park benches wearing a sign that said "American willing to listen," assisting in the clean-up of India's Ganges River, and collecting and delivering gifts to the women of Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia.
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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Beth Pena of Gloucester MA led her neighbors in a campaign to stop the gentrification of their low-income neighborhood. Thanks to Pena, public opinion helped save the old housing and stopped the evictions of long-time residents.
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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Robin Pendergrast of Northfield IL, concerned that the leper colony on Molokai, Hawaii had no fire protection, bypassed state officials to provide the needed equipment and training himself.
Home when commended: North America, US, Illinois Home now: North America, US, Illinois Gender: M (male) For more information, click on the Giraffe's name.
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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.
