AAFSW is thrilled to share this year's Secretary of State Awards for Outstanding Volunteerism Abroad winners and honorable mentions. Read on to learn about these amazing recipients! Learn more about SOSA.
AF: Julie Fischer (Kinshasa, DRC) and Samantha Bunch (Nairobi, Kenya)
During the January 2025 Ordered Departure from U.S. Embassy Kinshasa, Eligible Family Member Julie Fischer emerged as an informal leader of more than 200 evacuees, drawing on prior evacuation experience to keep the group calm and organized while coordinating with AAFSW’s Evacuee Support Network to secure clothing, supplies, and a morale boost upon arrival in the United States.
In Kinshasa, she volunteered at the Telema Mental Health Center, teaching art therapy to at-risk women and organizing an Embassy garden project. She also served on the Board of The American School of Kinshasa, where she led governance reforms and a constitutional revision. She supported English learners at the Congo American Language Institute; mobilized alumni service projects as University of Notre Dame’s “ambassador” to the DRC; and contributed to community life as a Marine Ball Committee member and social sponsor. As a volunteer with African Bird Club, she proofread more than 1,000 DRC bird species entries on the Birds of Africa app. She left a lasting legacy of service to both mission and host country communities. Photo shows Julie Fischer.
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Samantha Bunch, an Eligible Family Member at U.S. Embassy Nairobi, has shown remarkable dedication to both the mission community and Kenya through innovative service and crisis leadership. As Vice Chair of the American Employee Association and Chair of the Marine Ball Committee, she strengthened morale and community life, while her Eco-Brick Initiative diverted over two tons of plastic waste into low-cost housing materials, creating a model for sustainable development. She mobilized critical support for Ginko Africa, empowering teenage mothers to continue their education, and extended vital assistance to Real Hope Community Orphanage. During the April 2023 evacuation of Embassy Khartoum families, she coordinated donations, offered comfort, and provided hands-on support to arriving evacuees. Samantha’s volunteerism—marked by creativity, compassion, and impact—has left a lasting imprint on both Embassy Nairobi and the wider host community. Photo shows Samantha Bunch.
AF Honorable Mention: Margie Tidwell (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)
EUR: Jennifer Sturgeon (The Hague, Netherlands)
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Jennifer Sturgeon exemplifies the highest ideals of volunteerism through her leadership, creativity, and compassion across multiple countries. In Slovakia, she led the nation’s largest charity initiative, raising $102,000 for nonprofits serving refugees, children, and women, and advocated for orphanages in Poland and Slovakia. Since moving to The Hague in 2023, she has strengthened community life through the American Women’s Club and U.S. Embassy initiatives, organizing cultural exchanges, awareness events, and fundraising drives that have benefited soup kitchens, at-risk children, trafficking survivors, and Ukrainian families. A dedicated supporter of the Royal Dutch Sea Rescue Institution, she has raised funds, organized community outreach, and coordinated volunteer efforts to sustain their lifesaving mission. She advances remembrance through the Stolpersteine Project, supports faith and fellowship through young adult ministry and global Bible study programs, and unites allied families as President of the
Defense Attaché Spouses Association. Jennifer’s enduring impact reflects American generosity, resilience, and service, leaving lasting contributions to both host and mission communities.
EUR Honorable Mention: Patty Liddle (Istanbul, Turkey)
SCA: Shirley Helm (Dushanbe, Tajikistan)
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In Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Foreign Service Office Management Specialist Shirley Helm dedicated over 4,000 volunteer hours to advancing opportunities for the country’s deaf community through American Sign Language (ASL) education and advocacy. What began as a modest class quickly grew as she developed her own curriculum, secured grants to bring in a deaf American instructor via Zoom, and launched independent programs that transformed beginners into fluent signers.
Her mentorship opened doors never before imagined: two of her students became the first Deaf Tajiks accepted into the FLEX exchange program, and she partnered with Gallaudet University’s summer camp director to ensure two deaf students could attend—personally escorting them on their first journey to the United States.
Beyond the classroom, Shirley organized Deaf Awareness Week at the embassy, welcomed deaf students into national celebrations, and traveled to remote regions to train teachers and inspire young learners. Through vision, perseverance, and thousands of hours of service, she reshaped the landscape of disability rights in Tajikistan—leaving a legacy of inclusion and opportunity that will endure long after her departure.
SCA Honorable Mention: Katryn DeMeritt Stewart (Ashgabat, Turkmenistan)
WHA: David Bargueño (Brasilia, Brazil) and Wiley Skaret (Bogota, Colombia)
Foreign Service Officer David Bargueño led an innovative partnership with the largest cooperative of recyclable trash pickers (“catadores”) in Latin America, which represents more than 2,500 low-income families in Brasília, Brazil. He mobilized a yearlong fundraising and volunteer campaign, which created a community of service – across the Embassy, American School, and trash pickers – and culminated with an upgrade of local recycling facilities on international volunteer day. In addition to painting several multipurpose rooms, David and his team procured key supplies that the catadores requested for their professional education, such as sewing machines, hairdresser seats, laptops, bookshelves, books, and furniture. The director of the cooperative noted that the United States was the first and only embassy to ever roll up its sleeves and volunteer at the recycling center, located just 15-minutes from downtown, yet widely unknown to the diplomatic community.
At the end of the international volunteer day, one of the catadores gave David a surprise bear hug and news: their multipurpose room would be renamed “Martin Luther King, Jr. Hall” to honor the U.S. Embassy’s support. The campaign raised broader public awareness of how a historically informal workforce provides ecological and sanitary services that improve the quality of urban life, ease burdens on landfills, and create employment for almost one million people across the country. David and his team in the stand-alone section focused on Environment, Science, Technology, and Health (ESTH) represented core U.S. values and strengthened people-to-people ties during the 2024 bicentennial celebration of U.S.-Brazil diplomatic relations.
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While in Bogotá, Colombia, EFM Wiley Skaret founded James 1, a U.S. 501(c)(3) project dedicated to providing university scholarships for the children of Colombian National Police (CNP) officers killed in the line of duty. To advance this mission, Wiley built broad coalitions of support — engaging police generals, supreme court justices, ambassadors, diplomats, corporate leaders, and victims’ families — to shine a light on the needs of the children of fallen heroes.
An internationally performing pianist, Wiley harnessed music as a vehicle for awareness and remembrance. He launched a nationwide campaign by recording music videos across Colombia with a piano transformed into a traveling memorial, painted by a CNP graffiti artist. That piano accompanied Wiley on recording tours across the country before being permanently installed at the CNP Museum in Bogotá. Through benefit concerts on two continents, national media appearances, and the creation of an international scholarship board, Wiley elevated the cause from a local initiative to a global effort.
Wiley credits his team of advisors from U.S. Embassy Bogotá for helping shape the vision for James 1 and the many diplomats who not only believed in his mission, but joined it. Their partnership was instrumental in transforming an idea into a sustainable program with lasting impact.
To date, James 1 has raised more than $100,000 and provided full or partial university scholarships to nine children of fallen officers, four of whom have now graduated. The foundation continues its work today, with new applications under review. Photo shows Wiley Skaret.
WHA Honorable Mention: Francisco Ordaz (Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago)
This year, two bureau award committees did not award a SOSA but would like to recognize the following honorable mentions:
NEA Honorable Mention: Kaleigh Fountain (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia))
EAP Honorable Mention: Amy Kennedy (Beijing, China), Thomas Lee (Rangoon, Burma), Carlo Cressotti (Suva, Fiji)
