AAFSW/Secretary of State's Award for Outstanding Volunteerism
Year 2006 Winners
Steven Carroll - Kabul, Afghanistan (NEA/SCA)
While serving a one-year tour in Kabul with no CLO, no employee association and no contact with the outer world, Steve stepped in to help mission morale through contact with the host country. He organized clothing drives for the Window of Hope orphanage, collecting donations from school children in the USA and delivering them in an armored vehicle. He created the Embassy “big blue boxes”, institutionalizing charitable donations to orphans and refugees. To raise funds for needed firewood for heating and cooking at the orphanage, he organized Post’s first fund-raising charity dinner, an elegant Valentine’s Day event that raised post morale and $1500 for firewood. He masterminded the first Kabul Music Festival which took place just after the most serious riots – lifting morale with outdoor music, dancing, BBQ, raffle, and Afghan decorations . Working with an NGO in Afghanistan, he helped them raise $2700 to fund book bags given to children across the country, and arranged for the US military to donate 16 containers of surplus food and drugs to the poor. All this, while working full time, and in a war zone!
Kathy Hansen - Seoul, Korea (EAP)
An EFM (Eligible Family Member) in Seoul, Kathy has dedicated two years at post to a full range of volunteer services for the benefit of U.S. Government employees through her involvement in: the American Forces Spouses Club, their Chosun Gift Shop, Quilts for Soldiers and Stork’s Nest Quilts, baby blankets for The Christ Child Society, Seoul Elementary School, the Embassy Book Club, Yongsan Vacation Bible School, Yongsan Library, Cursillo, Holy Family Parish (South Post Chapel), CLO Monthly Teas, and financial support for the adoption of children from Korea, Vietnam, and China. She is especially valued for her ability to recruit, direct and advise other volunteers in this multitude of community projects. Her motto is that no task is too difficult to perform, especially when it touches the hearts of both the giver and the recipient.
Marian McGowan - Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (WHA)
Marian has been a tireless volunteer with Jackie's House, a home that provides a safe and nurturing environment for thirty-six children with mental or physical handicaps, children who have been abused and neglected, and children of parents who cannot appropriately provide for them (such as children of prostitutes). She uses her personal resources to teach them English, and has established a network of donors from her friends and family in the U.S. to help support the home. With these donations, she provided paper, crayons, school supplies, and even a television and VCR. She encouraged other Embassy volunteers who now regularly teach English, organize and implement holiday and birthday parties, read to the little ones, and become mentors to these disadvantaged children. Marian's generosity, vision and willingness to go the extra mile have made a huge difference to Jackie's House and she has energized the entire Embassy community with the opportunity to give back to the host country. As a Foreign Service spouse in her first tour abroad, she has already become a true Ambassador for the United States.
Nelda Villines - Mbabane, Swaziland (AF)
A full-time Embassy employee, Nelda been dedicating her time, effort, and personal finances to help HIV-positive orphans and women in Swaziland for two years. She has visited 30 schools and hospitals across the country distributing food, clothing, books and school supplies, blankets, and toys. She has involved others (in the US and the Embassy), encouraging them to give dollar donations, quilt designs, or time. She visits and assists self-help projects, and gathers resources to benefit the multitudes of needy people living in a country where the official HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is 42.6%. She convinced new arrivals to the Embassy to donate their shipping crates so they can be used to build tables or benches for rural community schools. She brought the Minnesota-based "Mother Bear Project" to Swaziland, where she receives knitted teddy bears to distribute to impoverished Swazi children. She and her husband were instrumental in the building of the Samukelwe Family Centre and the Hope Heals Centre, and they have contributed funds to the schooling of two high school children and three adults for computer classes.
Thomas Yazdgerdi - Athens, Greece (EUR)
Tom is a political officer who was serving in Greece when he undertook the charitable endeavors we honor today. Many of his efforts benefited the burgeoning immigrant community in Athens, who are often discriminated against by the Greek organizations for the needy. He organized the refurbishing of the Multicultural Daycare Center, he worked to get Thanksgiving turkeys for The Ark, the Mother Teresa Center, and Helping Hands ( Athens Refugee Center), and he headed the Community Service Network, spurring other Embassy personnel to help with clothing drives, etc. He collaborated with several Greek foundations and other NGOs, creating the Katrina Relief Organizing Committee; they organized a benefit concert that raised nearly $100,000 for the Katrina victims, which was presented by the Greek Ambassador to Habitat for Humanity to rebuild homes.