Community News

Nigeria, Botswana, Kenya, Washington DC, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe

By JoAnna Haugen on Sunday, August 3rd, 2008

NIGERIA, BOTSWANA, KENYA, WASHINGTON, D.C.

The Fish and Wildlife Service recently awarded George Petrides, Sr., (Nigeria 66-67, Botswana 67-68, Kenya 72-74, Washington, D.C. 70-72) with the Citizens Award for Exceptional Service. He is the founder and chairman of Wild Bird Centers of America, Inc., and he was honored for helping to improve the Service’s bird watching and conservation programs throughout the National Wildlife Refuge System. In addition to his position at Wild Bird Centers of America, Inc., Petrides serves on the Board of the Wild Bird Feeding Industry (WBFI) trade group as chairman of the retailer committee, is a trustee of the WBFI Research Foundation, helps lead Project Wildbird (a scientific research program) and serves as a member of the Wildlife Refuge System Birding Initiative Team. He earned his master’s degree in education from Michigan State University.

SENEGAL

Andrew Sherman is a first-year resident in pediatrics at the University of Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital and co-founder of the program Netlife, which delivers mosquito nets to Senegal. His partnership with two existing organizations that also fight malaria has allowed Sherman to offer the nets throughout the country for only five dollars a net. Netlife delivered 600 nets in 2005 and 1,100 in 2007. This year Sherman hopes to deliver 4,000 nets; 2,600 have already been distributed with the help of local Senegal PCVs. He received his bachelor’s degree at DePaul University and is currently a student at University of Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital.

SIERRE LEONE

Father Timothy Johnson is the new pastor at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Carroll, Iowa. He entered the priesthood 15 years ago and has served in a number of Iowa communities throughout that time. Johnson studied social work and law enforcement at the University of Northern Iowa and attended seminary at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., where he was ordained in 1993.

ZIMBABWE

Rev. Kimberly Greway (99-01), a minister at Mt. Lebanon United Methodist Church in Pennsylvania, returned to Zimbabwe in 2006 with 17 church members. The group worked on several projects during their three-week trip, including assisting in the 240-bed hospital at the Nyadire United Methodist Mission. The hospital services 500,000 people. They also helped with a vacation Bible school for elementary school students, and worked on maintenance and construction projects. Greway returned to the area last year where she noted improvements in the lives of the community members, and she hopes to travel to Zimbabwe this coming October to help secure a clean and secure water supply to the hospital.

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