Say hello to all our incoming Action Corps Organizers for the 2014-15 year! They are all fantastic, engaged social justice advocates, each coming with a unique background. From youth educators, to nurses, to biologists, we have a full range of experiences to work from to make this a successful year!
Before we move on, though, we want to thank and celebrate our excellent 2013-14 organizers. They are: Kathy Chavez, Jasmine McBeath, Lexy Keaton, Miranda Birt, Suad Maow, Sarah Lucey, Caitlin Lovegrove, Kathryn Sokolowski, Megan Nakra, Lydia Bailey, Kelly Buffalo, Aaron Schlumbohm, Kim Kiser, Joleen Goff, Edna Wijnterp, Mariela Quesada Centeno, Dawn Deransburg, Jessy Spanswick, Margaret Richardson, Elizabeth Norman, Sarah Hwang, Emily Black, Yoshiko Hill, Brook Sinclair, Jena Dixon, and Ruby Mixon-Luecke. Give them a (virtual) hand for all their hard work this past year!!
Soon the new organizers below will be traveling to Washington DC for their leadership training, and we can't wait! Let's get ready for another effective and active year.
Albuquerque
Katherine Chavez was born and raised
in New Mexico. She joined the US Navy at age 19 and served four years before
moving to Hanford, California where she worked as a bartender in a Mexican
restaurant. Kathy currently works as a pediatric nurse at Children’s Hospital
of New Mexico. She became involved with Oxfam at the Albuquerque’s growers’
market where after she somehow found herself in a kitchen full of great fresh
food and wonderful, fun people.
Amanda
Dezan is an international relations and
Latin American studies major at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Originally
from northern Virginia, right outside of Washington DC, she moved to
Albuquerque last year for a change, and has been volunteering with the local
Oxfam chapter ever since. She is an avid traveler, and has worked extensively
with groups supporting rights to education in South America and Asia. When she’s
home, she loves being outdoors: hiking, biking, camping or sailing.
Austin
Sarah Strong is a graduate of University
of Texas Austin with a Bachelor’s in Social Work,
and is currently a case manager at a non-profit in Austin, dealing specifically
with homelessness. A lot of her experience has been with direct social work
practice. She is excited to learn about
community organizing and how to tackle the root of social justice issues!
Boston
Sapana Thomas works as a product manager at a mobile
advertising technology company, and also has a passion for issues related to
public health and hopes to do work in that area one day. She is involved with
Technology Underwriting Greater Good to spread social entrepreneurship. She previously
worked in the biotechnology community as a researcher at the Broad Institute of
Harvard and MIT, and also loves photography and running.
Sarah Lucey is returning organizer in Boston, who has
enjoyed leading volunteers for the past year, especially through lobby visits
and event planning. A graduate of Northeastern University, she now works as a
program representative at a local housing non-profit with clients in Section 8
housing. Though she grew up in Massachusetts, she loves traveling and is a dual
citizen with the UK and USA, and has studied abroad in Italy, South Africa, and
Costa Rica.
Burlington
Madison Moran is an undergraduate studying Natural Resource Planning and
Political Science at the University of Vermont, and is also Co-President of the
Oxfam America Club there. She has become increasingly dedicated to Oxfam’s
message through her work, and has kept busy with their events. In addition, she
is extremely involved on campus, and is a traveler, hiker, and skier!
Diana Halbstein, originally from New
Jersey, is now thrilled to be in Burlington permanently after graduating from
the University of Vermont. Over the last several years, she has been very
involved in the Fair Traide movement, and now works for her local Ten Thousand
villages store, which is a non-profit fair trade retailer. She also loves
biking, hiking, tutoring, and dreaming up travel plans!
Chicago
Sandra
Agik,
born and raised in Uganda, moved to Chicago in 2009 for college and fell in
love with the city. After studying Biology she learned about how social
determinants of health create disparities in various populations, and therefore
became interested in Oxfam and its mission. She now works as a Research
Assistant at the University of Chicago’s center for Clinical Cancer Genetics.
She is also an avid traveler and loves the outdoors.
Lizzie Nolan
is Vice President and Co-Founder of a health
and technology start up, and considers herself an adventurer. After studying
and working on four different continents, she loves traveling. She has just
finished a Master of Science in International Public Service degree and is
eager to put it to use for Oxfam!
Columbus
Kenny Ruffin is a
self-defined media artist, educator, musician, and community activist. He has
spent over 20 years in higher education and broadcasting, teaching at the
community college level at the Ohio Center for Broadcasting, as well as
starting his own media company for non profits and local artists. He enjoys
art, music, film, theatre, travel, photography and philosophy, and is dedicated
to making the world a better place.
Des
Moines
Amy Luebbert is a
returning organizer who took off a year to do service as an Energy Corps
AmeriCorps member. After working for a while at a financial company, she left
to pursue a career more in line with her passions for the non-profit sector.
She is also very dedicated to her local church, and loves cats and vegan food!
With all of her previous experience she is excited to continue as organizer.
Indianapolis
Kim
Kiser is a returning organizer who currently works at a local organization
called Second Helpings coordinating volunteers to make meals from donated food.
The organization also serves the meals at homeless shelters, low-income day
care centers, after-school programs, and senior programs throughout the area.
Kim recently graduated from the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and now
volunteers with Slow Food, the Indiana Climate Collaboration, Toastmasters, and
with her church.
AJ Feeney-Ruiz is very involved in politics, with dual JD/MBA degrees from
Indiana University and more than fifteen years of political work experience in
both the Indianapolis and Washington, DC areas. In addition, he has extensive
experience with public relations, management roles, consulting, and
international experience – having been to seventy-five countries and time
living and working abroad! He is currently chief mediator for discrimination
cases brought forth in his county, and is very involved in his community.
Kansas
City
Edna
Wijnterp is a returning
organizer, born and raised in beautiful Puerto Rico, who now works as an
Operations Specialist at a bank in Kansas City. She loves to travel and meet
new people and learn from different cultures. She has loved being involved with
Oxfam and creating awareness of our global social problems, particularly those
surrounding women’s rights.
Diana Arcila was born in Colombia,
and studied accounting there until she moved to the U.S. with her new family.
She later moved to her current home in Kansas City and started working as a
Reconciler of Internal accounts in the United Missouri Bank. She is an active
participant in her community, volunteering, giving free classes, and living and
working closely with the Hispanic community there. She is a true believer of
communal identity, seeing us all as citizens of the universe who should work to
help each other.
Madison
Yolibeth
Rangel-Fitzgibbon is originally from Venezuela, where she studied
agriculture. She then came to the U.S. to study Plant Pathology at University
of Wisconsin Madison, where she stayed on to work after graduation. After
starting a family, she now works as the Program Director for an after-school
program for less privileged children, dedicated to improving English literacy
and good character. With food justice still as an important issue for her, she
is dedicated to making a difference in society and has always been involved in
her community.
Alice
Reznickova is an environmental justice advocate, with degrees from
University of Wisconsin – Madison and Smith College in Chemistry and
Environmental Science. She is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the Nelson
Institute for Environmental Studies at UW – Madison, where she explores the
social inclusiveness of the local food movement. Alice is also currently the Director
of the Greater University Tutoring Services at UW, and an active volunteer for
a neighborhood center where she teaches science to children.
Minneapolis
Margaret Richardson is a resident of St.
Paul who has been very involved in her community. She is a parent who
single-handedly raised 5 almost adult children, and is someone who loves
bringing people together to work on a problem, campaign, or a party. She is
currently a CNA/PCA/HHA science instructor for elementary school children and
is constantly challenging her students to be problem solvers.
Janiece
Watts is an active participant in community organizing, on issues
including environmental justice, economic equality and food justice. She has
worked on campaigns such as Raise the Wage, and has sat on the Minnesota Trade
Policy Advisory Council, to research implications of a bill in Congress. She is
a passionate advocate for many social justice issues and loves the mission of
Oxfam.
New
York City
Jennifer
Viechweg-Horsford was born in
Grenada, and has always been actively involved in poverty and youth issues
globally. She has extensive experience as a public servant in Grenada, and has
represented the island nation in many platforms. After attaining her Master’s
in Business Administration she deepened her understanding of poverty issues by
attending a seminar in China. She is now an independent consultant, the
volunteer coordinator for a youth group, and is also involved in parent
leadership.
Elizabeth
Tillman is originally from Florida, where she first studied and worked at a law
firm. Then, after obstaining her Masters from the University of Leicester, she
moved to New York where she is currently working at an investment firm. She
also volunteers with the grassroots development aid organization, Kageno
Worldwide.
Philadelphia
Sarah Magnelia first got
involved with Oxfam as a student at the University of Texas at Austin with
their college club. She moved to Philadelphia recently for a job as the College
Placement Associate at KIPP, a national network of charter schools. She has spent time in Tanzania doing HIV/AIDS
outreach, and mentored freshman in the Texas Interdisciplinary Program.
San Francisco
Janet Lee was born in South Korea, lived between Korea and Indonesia when she was
young, and finally came over to the US at the age of 8. After attending an arts
junior high and high school doing violin performance and dance, she attended
University of Southern California where she graduated in 2012 majoring in
business, with an emphasis on tech entrepreneurship. She currently works at
Apple in the Geo Expansion team but is excited to learn more about social
entrepreneurship and policy through Oxfam. She is also an avid traveler, going
abroad for study, work, leisure, and volunteering.
Nadine Lueras-Tramma was born and raised in Southern
California, and moved north four years ago to go to UC Berkeley. After studying
Social Psychology, she volunteered with Kiva as a Community Support Intern.
This experience inspired her to travel to East Timor, where she worked for a
micro-finance institution. She now lives back in Berkeley, working her way up
to apply to grad school for International Development.
ALSO Welcome our 2014-15 Peer Facilitators!
Jasmine McBeath is from Arizona, but moved to Albuquerque a few
years ago. She works at Big Brothers Big Sisters, offering support to
volunteers, families, and children. She finds the work extremely rewarding
(with the added benefit that it helps her practice her Spanish!). When she
returned from her year in Brazil, she wanted to continue learning about
development work and low-and-behold she found Oxfam. She has been a leader for
the New Mexico Action Corps for two years and is thrilled to return as a peer
facilitator!
Megan Nakra is a clinical Research and Development scientist who
focuses on various avenues to impact change especially in regards to public
health. With a Masters in Biotechnology and working on a Masters in Public
Policy, she assumes many roles. These roles include teaching undergraduate
students, chairing health events and creating marketing campaigns for the
National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, and practicing as a licensed EMT. Megan is
ready to forge forth and generate waves of solutions with Oxfam.
Elizabeth Norman is originally from North Carolina where she grew
up near her grandparents’ farm. She moved to Brooklyn after graduating from
Oberlin. In addition to working in finance for a non-profit and volunteering
with Oxfam, she volunteers with street trees and is studying French. She loves
to travel, and has had the opportunity to volunteer on a cheese-making sheep
farm in France. She has loved being a part of the Oxfam Action Corps for the
past year and is ready to take her commitment to the next level.
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