Our annual event honors individuals who have made a substantial difference in people’s lives around the globe through their humanitarian efforts. Fouroutstanding humanitarians will be honored at the “Making a World of Difference” gala planned at Tempe Mission Palms Hotel on Thursday, October 12, 2017. This is Tempe Sister Cities’ way of thanking and honoring humanitarians who bring hope and comfort to deserving people worldwide. Everyone is invited!
Click here to register online starting Labor Day or
Anyone wishing to register and attend this special event may call Jane Neuheisel (480) 838-0437 or email her at
[email protected]
for details.
Plan now to attend the “Making a World of Difference” Awards Ceremony and Banquet on Thursday, October 12, 2017 to hear their amazing stories.
The 2017 Honorees:
This year’s Honorees include:
Chances4Children
headquartered in Scottsdale, provides hope and life-saving support to more than 5,000 children in Haiti. Their work includes food and clean water programs, medical clinics, orphan care, leadership development and empowerment programs for women and church communities. Families once torn apart for lack of basic needs are now surviving and thriving. Kathi Juntunen traveled to Haiti in 2005 determined to help starving and abandoned children. She founded Chances4Children and serves as President. She has made more than 80 trips to Haiti and together with her husband has adopted three Haitian children and will be attending this event.
Harvest India
is a faith-based movement that reaches out to millions of the “lowest of the low,” victims of the ancient caste system, and many others who are sick, outcast and destitute. The goal is to not only meet daily needs, but also to provide hope and skills for the future. Located in Southeast India in the city of Tenali, Harvest India reaches out to remote villages throughout the country. Programs provide elderly care, leprosy care, orphan care, food distribution, clean water wells, medical camps, schools and vocational training. Dr. Suresh Kumar, President, carries on the work begun by his mother Lilithamma founder of Harvest India will be attending this event.
World Bicycle Relief
founded in 2005, specializes in comprehensive bicycle distribution across Africa, South America and Southeast Asia. To date some 350,000 bicycles have been distributed and more than 1,000 bicycle mechanics have been trained. WBR bicycles are specially designed specific to the environment of distribution and are locally assembled for students (including girls), healthcare workers, farmers, and entrepreneurs. Studies show that a bicycle can increase family income by 35 percent; student attendance increases 28 percent and academic performance improves 59 percent. Mike Veitenhans, World Bicycle Reliefs Director of Global Partnerships, will be attending this event.
Thirty-three Buckets
is a student-entrepreneurial project headquartered at Arizona State University. In 2011 Mark Huerta, then an undergraduate biomedical engineering student, learned about a problem in Bangladesh where a school’s water supply was contaminated by arsenic. Encouraged and mentored by EPICS Engineering Projects in Community Service) Mark assembled a team and set out to create water filter prototypes. Thirty-three is arsenic’s atomic number hence the name of the project. Research proved that arsenic was not the contaminant, but the name stuck. The team found existing technology to solve the problem and after three years installed a system that now produces 2,000 to 4,000 gallons of clean water per day. After this experience the team pressed on and worked on successful filtration systems in villages in the Dominican Republic and in the village of Cusco, Peru, Tempe’s sister city. Mark says,”To see those kids drink clean water for the first time is the most rewarding feeling you can ever have…I wanted to change the world. The thing I would never have expected was how the world changed me.” Mark will be in attendance at this event.