AAFSW is pleased to share the winners and honorable mentions of the 2024 Secretary of State Awards for Outstanding Volunteerism Abroad (SOSA).

 

Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (EUR)        

Andrew Richley (Podgorica, Montenegro)

EFM Andrew Richley has played a key role in developing one of Europe’s largest urban gardens into a unique resource that provides food to the hungry and allows Montenegrins to learn about sustainable agriculture while building a stronger and more resilient community.  Richley established the Urbana Bašta Podgorica Food Forest and served as its manager.  He utilized his background as an arborist and forester to map and manage the orchard, while planting and growing more than 300 trees.  Additionally, Richley served as a key leader for the garden by organizing and leading community educational events, pursuing and managing funding/grants, and working with his team to care for the thousands of vegetables, shrubs, and trees planted.  The garden’s monthly food harvest has resulted in more than 250 crates of food being donated to local food banks and home delivery services. 

Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA)               

Connie Pearson (Jerusalem, Israel)

During her time as an Eligible Family Member in Jerusalem, Connie Pearson worked to bring different communities together, making a difference for all. Following the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks Pearson worked to organize catered lunches and dinners, personally cooking much of the food, for overworked embassy staff, as well as IDF soldiers and displaced Gazan families. She volunteered to help embassy staff evacuate U.S. citizens from Israel and raised funds for IDF reserve units as well as families in the West bank unable to afford food or utility payments. Pearson’s extraordinary service also included providing traumatized students with school supplies, raising funds for children to go to summer camps, helping a family whose farm was destroyed by fire, and assisting a local orphanage to purchase and renovate new facilities.

Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs (SCA)               

Kristin Factor (Mumbai, India)

Eligible Family Member Kristin Factor’s dedication to empowering young girls through art and education has left an indelible mark on the lives of those she’s touched. In Mumbai, Factor dedicated hundreds of hours, and her own funds, to provide art education to a group of 25 orphaned girls. Factor built the program from scratch, providing age-appropriate lessons to each girl and ensuring the walls of the Sharanam Shelter for Girls are now a figurative canvas for the girls’ newfound creativity, potential, self-esteem, and resilience.

Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs (WHA)         

Garrett Fraino (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

As an EFM, Garrett Fraino’s remarkable service to the impoverished favelas of Rio de Janeiro has made a significant impact in the lives of Brazilian youth. Through the Mais Caminhos (Pronounced “Mice Ka-Mean-Yoes) organization, which offers free activities and English courses to youth between 8 and 19-years-old, Fraino provided extensive personal tutoring and coaching to students. But Fraino's most outstanding and sustainable impact came in his efforts to restructure many parts of the organization for the better. Fraino reworked Mais Caminhos’ teaching guide and created more effective training for volunteer teachers. He also bolstered the organization’s administrative structure with a variety of improvements, including an innovative new attendance tracking program, a curriculum development plan, and a brand-new program to provide tourism and hospitality training to Mais Caminhos students.

Honorable Mentions 

AF Honorable Mentions: Valerie Wendell (Kinshasa, Congo - reassigned to SOSA from Tragen nominee pool) and Joel McDonell (Gaborone, Botswana)

EAP Honorable Mention: Thanh Kim (Seoul, Republic of Korea)

EUR Honorable Mention: Sarah Berdugo (Paris, France)

NEA Honorable Mention: Jessica Baetjer (Amman, Jordan)

SCA Honorable Mentions:  Stefanie Hendricks (Astana, Kazakhstan) and Lianne Tuomey (Kathmandu, Nepal)

WHA Honorable Mention:  Susannah Holmes (San Salvador, El Salvador)