Community News

Bolivia, Central African Republic, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Iran, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Nigeria, Poland, Zaire

By JoAnna Haugen on Saturday, May 17th, 2008

BOLIVIA

The Democratic Women’s Club of Manatee County recently honored Vicki Waters (66-69) with the Eleanor Roosevelt Award. When she lived in Washington, D.C., Waters worked for a congressman and the National Defense University. Since moving to Bradenton, Fla., she’s served as a precinct captain, vice president of Manatee Democrats and chairwoman of the Manatee Committee on the Status of Women. Waters currently serves as the executive director of the Manatee Democratic Party and public policy director of the Florida American Association of University Women.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

Joe and Sandra McCright (83-86) ran the 2008 Boston Marathon and raised $10,009 for the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. Last year Joe ran alone and raised $4,100. Joe has finished 11 marathons; Sandra has finished five.

COLOMBIA

Don Odermann founded the Latin Athletes Education Fund more than 25 years ago to provide young baseball players from the Caribbean financial scholarships to supplement the athletic scholarships they receive. In order to complete their education at the college level, many of the players rely on these scholarships to fill in the financial gaps. A former college baseball player himself, Odermann earned his master’s degree in Latin American studies from UCLA.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Greg Heikes (87-90) was recently appointed director of primary research for In-Stat, a high-tech market research firm. He will be overseeing the company’s primary research team of end-user surveys for both consumer and business markets. Prior to this position, Heikes served as director of market and customer research at Holt Rinehart & Winston.

HONDURAS

Central American Medical Outreach (CAMO) turns 15 years old this year. CEO Kathryn Tschiegg, RN, (79-81) founded the organization after researching how best to integrate medical equipment and education into the public health system and social fabric of Central America. Since its inception, CAMO has renovated a hospital and public health and community buildings, expanded healthcare programs, and donated medical supplies and expertise.

IRAN

Tom Verner and his wife, Janet Fredericks, are the founders of Magicians Without Borders. Founded in 2001, the organization seeks to provide what other organizations do not provide in crisis situations—hope and laughter. They recently returned from Iran where they entertained refugees at 15 shows in 12 camps and settlements over a two-week period.

KENYA

Jennifer Carter (02-04) recently accepted a job with The Carter Center in Sudan. She will be a technical advisor in the Guinea worm eradication project. Carter most recently worked as a program manager for Southwest Key Program, one of the largest unaccompanied minors’ shelters in the United States.

LESOTHO

Paul van der Veur helps spread the unspoken messages about AIDS through his work with Namibian filmmakers to produce documentaries of people living with the disease. He received a Fulbright fellowship last year which allowed him to produce four videos, two of which were shown at Wild Cinema, Namibia’s national film festival. In 2002, van der Veur worked on AIDS education and prevention in Swaziland with a $200,000 grant from a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co.

LIBERIA

Harry Thornhill (64-66) and his wife, Joan, have started a nonprofit organization to buy supplies for the private Akuffo Tom school in Ghana. The two retired Shenendehowa, NY, School District teachers began the organization after witnessing the harsh discipline school children received when they visited the country in 2005. Among the first items bought by Friends of Akuffo Tom School Complex were textbooks. The Thornhills have made two trips to the school in Ghana and say conditions have improved immensely.

NIGERIA

Illinois Wesleyan University recently honored Jonathan Dey with The Pantagraph Award for Teaching Excellence, the institution’s highest teaching honor. Dey, a professor of biology, has discovered, described and named several lichens through the research he has conducted. He is a graduate of Oregon State University and Duke University.

POLAND

Retired psychotherapist Larry Siddall recently self-published his memoir, Two Years in Poland and Other Stories. The book explores the time Siddall spent in the Peace Corps as well as other experiences he has had traveling around the world. Prior to retirement, he worked at Holyoke Mental Health Clinic, University of Massachusetts health services and Amherst Medical Associates.

ZAIRE

The United States Agency for International Development has appointed Dana Rose (86-88) as a regional contracting officer based in Cairo, Egypt. In this position she will support USAID programming in North Africa and the Middle East. Rose joined USAID in 2006 after spending 15 years in Africa working on relief and humanitarian operations in the Eastern Africa region. Prior to joining USAID, Rose worked as an environmental lawyer in Boise, Idaho.

ZAMBIA

Candance Gentry (1996) of Springfield, Missouri, started a nonprofit organization, CBOY, in 1998 to help provide garden seeds and clean water to orphanages in Zambia. The water purifiers use gravel and sand to cleanse infected water. She recently held a Polynesian dance performance to raise money and awareness about the issue facing Zambian children. Gentry is a recent graduate of Drury University.

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