Dr. T. Berry Brazelton (Boston, Massachusetts)
Brazelton is one of the foremost authorities on pediatrics and child development
as well as an author and professor. One of Brazelton's best known achievements
was the development of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS), which is
now used worldwide to recognize the physical and neurological responses of
newborns, as well as emotional well-being and individual differences. In 1993,
he founded the Brazelton Touchpoints Center� (BTC) at Boston Children's Hospital
where he continues to promote strengths-based, family-centered care in pediatric
and early education settings around the world.
Adam Burke (Jacksonville, Florida)
Burke is an Iraq combat veteran and recipient of the Purple Heart which he
received for injuries occurred by a mortar attack while running combat operation
in Iraq. In 2009 he opened "Veterans Farm," a 19 acre handicap-accessible farm
that helps teach veterans of all ages how to make a living from the find healing
in the land. He has been awarded numerous accolades for his work, including the
2011 Good Person of the Year award from the Good People Foundation and the Star
of Honor from Work Vessels for Veterans.
Mary Jo Copeland (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Copeland founded Sharing and Caring Hands in 1985, which has served as a safety
net to those in the Minneapolis area through the provision of food, clothing,
shelter, transportation, medical and dental assistance. Sharing and Caring Hands
assists thousands of people a month, and is staffed almost entirely by
volunteers. Copeland, who currently receives no salary for her work, has served
as its director since its opening and still greets every client entering the
center and conducts intake interviews.
Michael Dorman (Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina)
Dorman is the founder and executive director of Military Missions in Action, a
North Carolina-based non-profit that helps veterans with disabilities, both
physical and mental, achieve independent living. All veterans who have served
are eligible to receive services including home modification, rehabilitation and
family assistance. Since 2008, the organization has completed more than 100 home
modification projects and shipped thousands of care packages to soldiers.
Maria Gomez (Washington, DC)
Gomez founded Mary's Center 25 years ago with the mission to build better
futures through the delivery of health care, family literacy and job training.
Mary's Center is part of the working group launching First Lady Michelle Obama's
“Let's Read Let's Move Campaign.” Prior to establishing Mary's Center, Maria was
a public health nurse with the D.C. Department of Health. She has also worked
for the Red Cross, directing community education programming and disaster
services, and with the Visiting Nurses Association. She currently serves as
Regional Representative for the South East to the National Council of la Raza,
and previously served two terms on the board of the Nonprofit Roundtable of
Greater Washington.
Pamela Green Jackson (Albany, Georgia)
Green Jackson is the Founder and CEO of the Youth Becoming Healthy Project (YBH),
a non-profit organization committed to reducing the epidemic of childhood
obesity through nutrition, fitness education and physical activity programs. YBH
was created in memory of Pamela Green Jackson's only brother, Bernard Green, who
died in 2004 from obesity-related illnesses. YBH provides resources for during
and after school wellness programs for elementary and middle school students as
well as a summer wellness camp where the students learn about exercise,
nutrition and can participate in martial arts, walking club and dance programs.
Janice Jackson (Baltimore, Maryland)
Jackson is the creator and program director of Women Embracing Abilities Now, (W.E.A.N.)
a nonprofit mentoring organization servicing women and young ladies with varying
degrees of disabilities. She is also a professor at The University of Baltimore.
Jackson has actively advocated on behalf of people with disabilities and
currently serves on the board of directors for The League for People with
Disabilities, the Hoffberger Center for Professional Ethics at the University of
Baltimore, and The Image Center of Maryland. She also serves on the Community
Advisory Council at the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities at
Kennedy Krieger Institute, and is a counselor at Kernan Rehabilitation Center.
She has also founded two support groups, We Are Able People (W.R.A.P.) and Women
On Wheels & Walking (W.O.W.W.).
Patience Lehrman (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Lehrman is an immigrant from Cameroon and the National Director of Project SHINE
(Students Helping in the Naturalization of Elders), an immigrant integration
initiative at the Intergenerational Center of Temple University. SHINE partners
with 18 institutions of higher learning, community-based organizations, and
county and city governments across the country. SHINE engages college students
and older adults to provide language and health education, citizenship and civic
participation lessons to immigrant communities. Lehrman also mentors inner-city
high school students, provides free meals to low-income children in the summer
and serves as an election official. She holds three Masters Degrees from Temple
University.
Jeanne Manford (Queens, NY)
Manford and her husband, Jules, co-founded in 1972 a support group for parents
of gay children that grew into the national organization known as Parents,
Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). Manford had always supported
her son Morty, but was inspired to act after the police failed to intervene
while Morty was beaten and hospitalized during a Gay Activists Alliance
demonstration in April 1972. In the years that followed, Manford continued to
march and organize, even after losing Morty to AIDS in 1992. Today, PFLAG
focuses on creating a network of support and advancing equality for lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender people. Manford passed away in early January at
the age of 92.
Billy Mills (Fair Oaks, California)
Mills co-founded and serves as the spokesman for Running Strong for American
Indian Youth, an organization that supports cultural programs and provides
health and housing assistance for Native American communities. Mills gained
prominence during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, when he unexpectedly won a Gold Medal
in the 10,000 meter run. Today, he remains the only American to ever win this
event. At the time Mills competed in the Olympics, he was a First Lieutenant in
the United States Marine Corps. After the Olympics, Mills, an Oglala Lakota, was
made a warrior by his tribe. In 1986, Mills and Eugene Krizek, president of
Christian Relief Services, joined forces to found Running Strong.
Terry Shima (Gaithersburg, Maryland)
Shima was drafted into the US Army on October 12, 1944 as a replacement for the
442nd Regimental Combat Team. This unit was composed of Japanese Americans who
volunteered for combat duty. In November 2011, the US Congress awarded the
Congressional Gold Medal collectively to the 442nd RCT, the 100th Battalion and
the Military Intelligence Service. Shima served as Executive Director of the
Japanese American Veterans Association (JAVA), a nonprofit organization that
publicizes and assists Japanese American military veterans and their families,
from 2004 to 2012 and is now chair of its Outreach and Education Committee.
Harris Wofford (Washington D.C.)
Wofford served as a U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania from 1991 to 1995, and from
then to 2001 was the chief executive officer of the Corporation for National and
Community Service. From 1970 to 1978 he served as the fifth president of Bryn
Mawr College. He is a noted advocate of national service and volunteering. He
began his public service career as counsel to the Rev.Theodore Hesburgh on the
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and was an early supporter of the Civil Rights
movement in the South in the late 1950s. He became a volunteer advisor and
friend of Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1961, Kennedy appointed him as special
assistant to the President for civil rights. He was instrumental in the
formation of the Peace Corps and served as the Peace Corps' special
representative to Africa and director of operations in Ethiopia. On his return
to Washington in 1964, he was appointed associate director of the Peace Corps.
In 1966 he became the founding president of the State University of New York's
College at Old Westbury.
Rachel Davino, Dawn Hochsprung, Anne Marie Murphy, Lauren Rousseau, Mary
Sherlach, and Victoria Soto (Newtown, Connecticut)
On December 14, 2012, the names of six courageous women were forever etched into
the heart of our Nation as unthinkable tragedy swept through Newtown,
Connecticut. Some of these individuals had joined Sandy Hook Elementary School
only weeks before; others were preparing to retire after decades of service. All
had dedicated themselves to their students and their community, working long
past the school bell to give the children in their care a future worthy of their
talents.
