Joan Hecht Celebration of Service Award

The 2009 International Outreach Award is being given to an individual volunteer who has reached beyond our borders to give exceptional nurture and support to refugees.

Joan Hecht has volunteered fulltime with the Lost Boys of Sudan since their arrival in Jacksonville in 2001. She established the Alliance for the Lost Boys of Sudan to assist with their health and educational needs. Most of the Lost Boys had never used running water, electricity, or flushing toilets. Basic tasks, such as using a can opener or crossing a street at a traffic light were new to them. Fifty-five Lost Boys and local Sudanese have received help with college tuition and books from the Alliance. Twelve have received associate degrees and four have earned bachelor degrees. Joans efforts are global as she and her foundation support projects such as building schools and clinics, survival kits and beds for an orphanage in South Sudan. Locally, more than 100 Lost Boys and Sudanese have received much needed medical treatment or surgeries, including reconstructive surgery for one of the Lost Boys who was disfigured in an attack by Sudanese soldiers. The young men and women being helped are making a difference in our community as well as their former communities. One Alliance scholarship student graduated from UNF and returned to Southern Sudan two days later. He is now the Secretary of Education for secondary Schools for the government of South Sudan and is helping change the face of his nation.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

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• Celebration of Service
• HandsOn Jacksonville
• Joan Hecht
• International Outreach
• volunteer awards
• Lost Boys of Sudan