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SOSA

March 13, 2022 by content editor

Honor an Overseas Volunteer: Nominate Someone for the Secretary of State Award for Outstanding Volunteerism Abroad (SOSA)! Deadline: April 29

Do you know an exceptional overseas volunteer who has made a positive and lasting impact in their host country, supported morale and well-being within the Embassy or Consulate community, or helped others in an emergency? 

Please consider recognizing their work and inspiring others by submitting a nomination for this prestigious award administered by AAFSW!

Volunteer opportunities are a key to good morale and a sense of purpose at many overseas missions. And volunteers within the U.S. foreign affairs community consistently demonstrate remarkable achievements, even during a few short years at post. 

Examples from the 2021 SOSA award winners include assisting victims of human trafficking in the Middle East; leading a complete turnaround of an international school’s curriculum, finances, hiring and security; creating cultural outreach programs in China; providing support to autistic children and their families; and creating English-language programs for local staff at two consulates. 

Learn more about the program and previous winners here: https://www.aafsw.org/sosa/ 

SOSA nominees can be any USG direct-hire employees under Chief of Mission (COM) authority, their spouses and family members over the age of 18, or their members of household (MOH). The SOSA Award is given for volunteer activities performed abroad while the nominee was posted to a U.S. Mission or on Involuntary Separate Maintenance Allowance (ISMA) status.

The award honors remarkable service to the mission community, outstanding activities directed towards the host country, or exceptional service in emergency situations. Factors considered in the selection process include: scope and reach of activities, sustainability, ingenuity, and leadership. 

The SOSA Awards are administered by AAFSW, and recipients, if qualified, are chosen from each of the six regional bureaus by a panel of AAFSW, GCLO and regional bureau representatives.  Winners receive a cash award of $2500 and a certificate signed by the Secretary of State. Travel to Washington, DC for the November ceremony (if held in person at the State Department) will be paid for by regional bureaus.

How to Submit a Nomination

All members of the Foreign Affairs community are encouraged to present nominations.

Nomination season for the SOSA Awards opened this year with ALDAC cable 22 STATE 9450, released on February 1, and nominations are due by April 29.

Nominations for all awards should not exceed three pages double-spaced and must include the following information:  the nominee’s name and position or relationship to the direct-hire employee; the nominee’s e-mail address; the nominator’s name and relationship to nominee; and a justification for the nomination, including specific actions and qualities that fulfill the award criteria.

Send nominations (as a Word document) for the SOSA Awards to office@aafsw.org.  

You may also contact your CLO or Management Officer for additional information. Please also feel free to contact AAFSW with any questions by e-mail at office@aafsw.org.

Your nominations help recognize the vital importance and value of volunteer work in the foreign affairs community. Furthermore, highlighting these achievements inspires others to pursue projects that create positive change, advance person-to-person diplomacy, and bring more satisfaction and meaning to their time at post. Thank you for supporting these awards!

Patricia Linderman, AAFSW SOSA Chair 2020-2022

 

Filed Under: AAFSW Tagged With: SOSA

March 10, 2022 by content editor

Supporting Ukraine and Evacuees from Kyiv

I’ve been touched by the outpouring of support I have witnessed for Kyiv; whether it be directed at US embassy personnel and families or the people of Ukraine.  On March 4, AAFSW was invited to attend a meet and greet for evacuees of Mission Ukraine at the Department of State hosted by EUR EDGE.  EUR EDGE is a midlevel employee affinity group within the EUR Bureau. The event was geared towards officers on ordered departure and provided a chance to chat with DC based colleagues and hear from the Department. 

Deputy Assistant Secretary Robin Dunnigan and Under Secretary for Management John Bass both gave brief remarks.  During DAS Dunnigan’s remarks she highlighted AAFSW for our work supporting evacuees from Kyiv.  It goes without saying that our Evacuee Support Network doesn’t do this for recognition, but does so out of a sense of support for our community.  Nevertheless, I appreciated the fact that word has gotten out about AAFSW’s Evacuee Support Network and will happily accept a nod of recognition from the Department.  Under Secretary Bass also noted that the Department is providing support to Mission Ukraine LES.  He has received word many have left the country and are in neighboring countries and stressed the LES are still receiving their salaries. 

However, the highlight of this event was the brief visit by The Honorable Oksana Markarova, Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States.  Ambassador Markarova spoke to the group and said “Ukrainian people value [the] support of American people.”  She eloquently stated Ukrainian people have the “desire and resolve to fight and win.”  AAFSW FBS Chair and Evacuee Support Network co-chair Jenny Kocher, summed it up beautifully “Her voice and her strength reflects the courage and the resilience of the Ukrainian Nation.”

AAFSW’s Evacuee Support Network was founded in the 1980’s by a group of AAFSW members who were concerned about the rising number of family members who were being evacuated from posts around the world for a variety of reasons.  AAFSW’s Evacuee Support Network is organized by long-time AAFSW volunteer Ann LaPorta.  If you wish to volunteer, please reach out to Ann directly at a_laporta@yahoo.com 

Lara 

Filed Under: AAFSW Tagged With: Evacuee Support Network, SOSA

November 4, 2021 by content editor

Announcing the 2021 Awards Ceremony on Thursday, Nov. 18 for the SOSA, Tragen, CCE-EFM and Dorman Awards

 

The Secretary of State Award for Outstanding Volunteerism Abroad (SOSA) will be presented by AAFSW on Thursday, Nov. 18, from 10:30 to noon along with the Champions of Career Enhancement for EFMs (CCE-EFM) and Lesley Dorman Awards. DACOR, an association of foreign affairs professionals, will present the 2021 Eleanor Dodson Tragen Award. Find out more about the awards here:  https://www.aafsw.org/awards/ and http://www.dacorbacon.org/dacor_awards.php

 

The ceremony will be hosted by DACOR at the historic DACOR-Bacon House, built in 1825, just two blocks from the White House, with a limited number of people present. The event will be live-streamed and recorded using GoToWebinar. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has agreed to present remarks congratulating the winners.

 

To receive an invitation to attend virtually, please RSVP to office@aafsw.org .

 

Meet the 2021 Winners

 

SOSA AF Bureau, Keri E. Dziuban

 

While posted in Namibia, Keri used her training as an expert in special needs education to turn around a struggling international school. On a volunteer basis, she took extensive action to identify and resolve gaps in the curriculum, improve the physical security of the campus, and recruit a highly qualified Educational Director.

 

SOSA EAP Bureau, Sean P. Doyle 

 

As a “citizen diplomat” volunteering in Shenyang, Eligible Family Member Sean P. Doyle created and implemented innovative and effective cultural outreach initiatives to the Chinese public, including social media campaigns, in-person events and videos, such as a livestreamed Thanksgiving cooking demonstration that reached nearly one million viewers.

 

SOSA NEA Bureau, Sari Heidenreich and Layla S. Murphy 

 

Posted as diplomatic family members in Kuwait and the UAE, Sari and Layla (a college junior) supported the repatriation of Sierra Leonean domestic workers who had been trafficked to and/or exploited in Oman. They helped raise nearly $30,000, which supported 43 victims of trafficking and exploitation to see home again; organized repatriations logistics; provided direct education and empowerment to hundreds of women and conducted research to help the international community better understand how to address the underlying issues.

 

SOSA SCA Bureau, Muliani T. Lyng

 

During her three-year assignment in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, family member Muliani T. Lyng undertook a broad range of highly impactful efforts, including supporting Embassy families during the pandemic; helping operate a soup kitchen for the needy and summer camps for local children; supporting a fledgling animal shelter; and providing much-needed support to autistic children and their parents at a rehabilitation center.



SOSA WHA Bureau, Janeth Pena-Heredia 

 

Janeth established the English for the Guards program in São Paulo and English for Facilities Staff in Rio de Janeiro to build more inclusive Consulate communities, which created a space for meaningful conversations about systemic racism following the murder of George Floyd.  In Rio, she also led the Community Engagement Committee, which supported activities at a local orphanage, organized beach cleanups, and secured food donations for residents of a local community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

SOSA Honorable Mentions

 

AF  Ian Arzeni 

 

Tanzania, Ian Arzeni started a skateboard club and taught 30 young Tanzanians the basics of the sport.  Donations from Weekend Skateboards and Nike supported the club with decks and shoes.  Skateboarding classes became an excellent diversion and opportunity for young people to learn a new sport. 

 

 

EAP Jennie Linton

 

Jennie organized a group of over 40 women in Shanghai China to sew reusable menstrual kits for girls who don’t have adequate supplies in developing countries.  These kits allow girls to go to school during their periods.  They were able to deliver kits to girls in India and Kenya.  She says, “This was a small thing that had a big impact not only on the girls who received them, but on those of us who created them.  We felt more gratitude, purpose and connection.”

 

NEA Team Vaccine 

 

Honorable Mention for the NEA Bureau was awarded to Embassy Amman for its outstanding Vaccine Task Force, in which over 70 volunteers, trained over the weekend, vaccinated more than 1,000 mission personnel against COVID-19 in just 1.5 days.



WHA Amy J. Duhamel 

 

Amy started a volunteer group in Bogotá, Colombia during the pandemic. They provided groceries, baby supplies, warm clothes, blankets and other necessities to locals and Venezuelan refugees who were struggling due to the strict quarantine. The group continues to assist those in need. 



Eleanor Dodson Tragen Award, Fabiula Maughan

 

Fabiula was selected for her innovative and timely efforts to help Mission Brazil address issues of racism and social injustice following the 2020 protests that heightened awareness of these problems in Brazil and in the United States.  Fabi’s vehicle for creating enduring change was embRACE, a group of roughly 40 U.S. direct hires and local staff dedicated to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.  As chairwoman of the embRACE steering committee, Fabi led members through biweekly coordination meetings and created subcommittees to organize consulate-wide activities.  Fabi was such a force for positive change that embRACE soon inspired likeminded chapters across Mission Brazil, which now function autonomously, adapting to local realities to promote social justice and equity. 

 

Champions of Career Enhancement for EFMs (CCE-EFM), Timothy Stufft

 

Eligible Family Member Tim Stufft is an engineer and company vice president who has worked tirelessly to connect his fellow EFMs with remote, private-sector work opportunities in the fields of engineering and defense technology. While posted in Chisinau, he also founded a co-working group for mutual support among EFMs working remotely. His efforts have positively impacted perceptions about the work opportunities for EFMs as they accompany foreign affairs personnel at posts around the world.



Lesley Dorman Award, Cathy Salvaterra 

With her husband and three daughters, Cathy served overseas during 17 consecutive years, working as a CLO Coordinator, ESL teacher and human resources professional. In DC, she served as the CLO Program Coordinator at FLO. Upon her retirement in 2003, she became SOSA Chair for AAFSW, establishing first-time SOPs for the program and spearheading the on-line SOSA history project written by Sarah Genton. Since 2004, she has been a key volunteer for AAFSW’s Art and Book Fair, working every week to price donated books and staff the Book Room, as well as volunteering for the annual event.



Filed Under: AAFSW Tagged With: aafsw, AAFSW Events, SOSA

July 13, 2021 by content editor

Winners and Honorable Mentions Chosen for the 2021 Secretary of State Award for Outstanding Volunteerism Abroad (SOSA)

The SOSA awards, administered by AAFSW, were established in 1990 with the direct encouragement and support of then-Secretary James A. Baker and his wife Susan.  While on official travel, Mrs. Baker was so impressed by the extraordinary volunteer work performed by the Foreign Service community overseas that she advocated for an award to recognize these volunteer accomplishments.  

The 2021 winners were chosen by selection committees consisting of AAFSW President Lara Center; AAFSW SOSA Chair Patricia Linderman assisted by committee members Mette Beecroft and Nami Kritenbrink; Director Gabrielle Hampson of the Global Community Liaison Office (formerly FLO) assisted by Jason Pantaleo; and the director or other representative of each geographic regional bureau. In a new tradition established last year, Honorable Mentions were also selected. 

Winners will receive a cash award of $2,500 and a pin commemorating the event. Both winners and Honorable Mentions also receive a certificate signed by the Secretary of State. The Awards Ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, November 18, 2021; depending on COVID-related considerations, it will be held in the Benjamin Franklin Room of Main State, or online via GoToWebinar, as took place last year in a highly successful hybrid ceremony at DACOR-Bacon House. Funding for the award includes donations from former Secretaries of State, including annual support from James and Susan Baker and Colin Powell; the Green Family Foundation headed by former Ambassador Steven J. Green; and AAFSW members. 

The 2021 SOSA winners are: 

AF  Keri E. Dziuban, Windhoek

As a volunteer member of the Windhoek International School Board, Eligible Family Member Kari E. Dziuban led a complete turnaround of the school’s curriculum, finances, hiring and security, positively impacting the quality of education for current and future students as well as the quality of life at post.

EAP  Sean P. Doyle, Shenyang

As a “citizen diplomat” volunteering in Shenyang, Eligible Family Member Sean P. Doyle created and implemented innovative and effective cultural outreach initiatives to the Chinese public, including social media campaigns, in-person events and videos, such as a livestreamed Thanksgiving cooking demonstration that reached nearly one million viewers.

NEA  Sara E. Magnuson and Layla S. Murphy, Kuwait

As Eligible Family Members in Kuwait and Abu Dhabi, Sara E. Magnuson and Layla S. Murphy volunteered with the organization Da Bold to combat trafficking in persons and labor exploitation by carrying out research, fundraising and social media campaigns, as well as working directly with migrant workers in the Gulf region to document and publicize their stories and provide needed support.

SCA  Muliani Lyng, Nur-Sultan

Eligible Family Member Muliani T. Lyng undertook a broad range of highly impactful efforts during three years in Nur-Sultan, including supporting Embassy families during the pandemic; helping operate a soup kitchen for the needy and summer camps for local children; supporting a fledgling animal shelter; and providing much-needed support to autistic children and their parents at a rehabilitation center. 

WHA Janeth Pena-Heredia, Rio

In Rio, as well as previously in Sao Paulo, consular officer Janeth B. Pena-Heredia recruited, trained and led volunteers to establish ongoing no-cost English language programs for local guards and facilities staff with far-reaching impact, including improved communication with U.S. staff; expanded job opportunities; more meaningful dialogue about diversity, equity and inclusion; and volunteer contributions by these skilled workers to renovate an orphanage.

Congratulations as well to the 2021 Honorable Mentions:

AF  Ian Arzeni, Dar es Salaam

EAP Jennie Linton, Shanghai

NEA “Team Vaccine,” Amman

WHA Amy Duchamel, Bogota


More details about the winners and Honorable Mentions will be included in future editions of the Global Link, as well as on AAFSW’s website, www.aafsw.org https://www.aafsw.org/secretary-of-state-awards-for-outstanding-volunteerism-abroad/

Filed Under: AAFSW Tagged With: SOSA, SOSA 2021

November 7, 2019 by AAFSW Content Manager

2019 SOSA, Tragen, CCE-EFM and Dorman Award Winners To Be Honored at November 20 Ceremony

AAFSW is pleased to announce the 2019 winners of the Secretary of State Award for Outstanding Volunteerism Abroad:

From the AF Bureau:  Marcus Lamb, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

From the EAP Bureau: Jennifer Yan, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

From the EUR Bureau: Carlos Perez, Frankfurt, Germany

From the NEA Bureau: Zhou “Cecilia” Zhuang-Haas, Rabat, Morocco

From the WHA Bureau: Claudia Felice-Kuebler, Quito, Ecuador

 

The remarkable volunteer activities of the awardees include:  

  • Working closely with a local organization to promote IT skill building, resume building and interview skills to Tanzanian girls who otherwise cannot continue their traditional education.
  • Donating time, goods and meals to local charities and nonprofit organizations and ensuring that the embassy community continued to work with these organizations after her departure from post.
  • Providing an array of services to family members through new initiatives from cell phone plans, to creation of a small business hub promoting Eligible Family Member (EFM) and Locally-Employed Staff (LES) trades; partnering with Military Autosourcing and the creation of an international music publishing and management group.
  • Mentoring student teams and helping students network with the Moroccan government, thus securing a grant that will provide 180 families in rural Morocco access to renewable electricity; leading a Women’s Day event with a panel of 60 speakers.
  • Volunteering at Pan de Vida to streamline the organization’s communications strategy; leading a women’s mentoring program with a microbusiness emphasis focusing on underserved minority women in Ecuador.  

AAFSW is also pleased to announce the following awardees: 

Melissa Hess, Eleanor Dodson Tragen Award

Daniel Alvarez, Shannon Bland, and Dan Kehoe, Embassy Mexico City, Champions of Career Enhancement for EFMs Award

Sherry Barndollar Rock, Lesley Dorman Award

 

The five SOSA winners, as well as the Tragen, CCE-EFM, and Dorman Award winners, will be honored on Thursday, November 20, 2019 at the AAFSW Annual Awards Ceremony. The ceremony will begin promptly at 11:00 a.m. Refreshments will be served after the completion of the program at 12:00. From 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. members and guests can mingle and take the opportunity to personally chat with the 2019 award winners.

 

The ceremony is free to all AAFSW members, Department of State employees, and guests of winners. Outside guests will be asked to pay $20. RSVP for the ceremony by Friday, November 15 by emailing office@aafsw.org or calling 703-820-5420. We hope you can join us to honor these amazing members of the Foreign Affairs community.

 

Lara Center

AAFSW SOSA Chair

 

Filed Under: AAFSW Tagged With: aafsw award ceremony, aafsw awards, SOSA, SOSA 2019

December 9, 2018 by AAFSW Content Manager

2018 AAFSW Awards Ceremony

 

2 Tragen Award
3 CC-EFM-Bob-Joanna_Sheila
4 Dorman Award
5 AAFSW President - SOSA Speech
7 Welcoming Spokesperson Heather Nauert
8 Mrs. Pompeo Great speaking photo
9 DACOR House
11 Spokesperson Nauert + AAFSW President
12 Mrs. Pompeo + Joanna in BFR
13 Winners and Sponsors with Mrs. Pompeo
2018 SOSA winner Nicola Hill receives award
Jessica McInerney receives award
MattEllsworth receives award
Patricia receives award

On Thursday, November 15, 2018, AAFSW held its 28th annual AAFSW awards program, which was presided over by AAFSW President, Dr. Joanna Athanasopoulos Owen, at the Benjamin Franklin Reception Room in the Department of State. The ceremony highlighted the exceptional volunteer work of seven remarkable individuals.

The Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide are grateful to have the continued financial support of former Secretary of State James Baker and his wife Mrs. Susan Baker, who helped establish this award in 1990 to recognize the goodwill of Americans for exceptional community service abroad, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Secretary of State George Shultz, the Ambassador Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs at Florida International University and the Green Family Foundation, as well as the support of the Center Family Foundation and the countless AAFSW members.

This year, AAFSW recognized four winners for the Secretary of State Award for Outstanding Volunteerism Abroad (SOSA) from four different geographical bureaus. DACOR recognized the winner of the 2018 Tragen Award, AAFSW and the Champions of Career Enhancement for EFMs Employment Committee recognized the recipient of the 2018 CCE–EFM Award, and AAFSW recognized the winner of the 2018 Lesley Dorman Award.

This was an exceptional year for our winners! Secretary of State Mike Pompeo honored AAFSW and the 2018 winners with a private meet and greet which took place the day before the 2018 AAFSW SOSA Ceremony. Indeed, in the afternoon of Wednesday, November 14, 2018, Secretary of State Pompeo met with the winners and discussed about their interests which led them to initiate and complete their SOSA winning projects. The Associates of the American Foreign Service and AAFSW President Dr. Joanna Athanasopoulos Owen are deeply grateful for this special honor afforded to all of us by Secretary Pompeo.

The Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide and AAFSW President were also very happy to welcome State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert, who was the keynote speaker and honored the awardees with her presence at the ceremony. Spokesperson Nauert emphasized the importance of the families that support the FSOs working abroad and called upon three children to come to the stage and honor their mother, a 2018 SOSA recipient, on her volunteer activities. The SOSA winners received a certificate of gratitude for their inspiring contributions signed by the Secretary Pompeo and AAFSW President, Dr. Joanna Athanasopoulos Owen. In addition, thanks to our generous donors, each of the SOSA winners received a cash award of $2,500 as well as a pin that reads “Outstanding Volunteer,” which commemorates the annual AAFSW Ceremony.

AAFSW was honored to welcome Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Human Resources Jeanne Juliao to help hand out all the 2018 awards. The winners were chosen by their projects’ sustainability, scope and reach, change and impact, ingenuity, and leadership. This year’s SOSA winners were presented by Yolanda Macias-Cottrell, AAFSW SOSA Chair, and they include: Dr. Abigail Hankin-Wei (AFRICAN Bureau), who trained physicians in emergency care in Mozambique; Nicola Hill (EAST ASIA and PACIFIC Bureau,) who promoted women’s and gender issues through public outreach events in China; Matt Ellsworth (EUROPE and EURASIA Bureau), who created an extensive genealogical database in Cyprus; and Jessica McInerney (WESTERN HEMISPHERE and the AMERICAS Bureau), for setting a new library up from scratch in Mexico.

Following the presentation of the 2018 Secretary of State Awards, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Human Resources Jeanne Juliao and DACOR President Jim Benson presented the Eleanor Dodson Tragen Award. This recognition, which comes with a two thousand dollars cash award, is funded by an annual gift by Mr. Tragen in memory of his late wife and is administered by DACOR to recognize a member of the Foreign Service community who has effectively advocated for and enhanced the global rights and benefits of the Foreign Service family.

AAFSW is extremely proud that this year’s award recipient is Patricia Linderman, AAFSW President Emerita. Throughout her 27 years as a Foreign Service family member, Patricia has contributed to efforts to share honest, candid information about Foreign Service life. She was a founding volunteer for Talesmag, which went online with the “Real Post Reports” in 1999, and she has helped moderate Foreign Service online groups such as Livelines and FSParent since the early 2000s. Patricia has co-edited several books: Realities of Foreign Service Life, Volumes 1 and 2, with royalties going to AAFSW, as well as A Cup of Culture and a Pinch of Crisis, a collection of essays about cross-cultural food experiences, which benefits the non-profit Tales from a Small Planet, www.talesmag.com. Seeing new online resources arising for the Foreign Service community but realizing that many people were unaware of them, she joined a volunteer team that created the Foreign Service Hub, www.FSHub.org, which gathers governmental, non-profit, and social media resources in a single site.

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Human Resources Jeanne Juliao, along with AAFSW President Dr. Joanna Athanasopoulos Owen and AAFSW EFM Employment Committee representative Bob Castro, presented the 2018 CCE-EFM Award to Laura Sheehan. This recognition comes with a $750 cash award provided by AAFSW, and it honors an individual who has been proactive in advancing Eligible Family Member Employment. Laura provided one-on-one career coaching to hundreds of EFMs in the East Asia Pacific region. Through the use of GEI-provided tools supplemented with her own materials and anecdotes, she helped EFMs define their career paths, craft resumes, hone their interview skills, negotiate salaries (and raises), and launch their own businesses. Most often, Laura is credited with helping build EFM confidence and improving morale. Laura’s clients often tell her that after talking to her, they feel like they have clarity on their next steps and they have a renewed sense of purpose. She took her encouraging messages to the wider expat community by launching a professional development group called “Empowering Perspectives,” speaking on a Thriving Abroad podcast in March 2018, and delivering a talk on “Career Change” at TEDx Hanoi 2018.

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Human Resources Jeanne Juliao, AAFSW State Liaison Dr. Mette Beecroft, and AAFSW President Dr. Joanna Athanasopoulos Owen presented the 2018 Lesley Dorman Award to Catherine Pierce. Lesley Dorman, who was a former AAFSW President, passed away on August 26, 2016. This award recognizes an AAFSW member who has performed outstanding service in all aspects of the organization and comes together with a silver-plated engraved platter. Together with Patricia Linderman, Catherine has been involved in the development and marketing of the FSHub.org portal since its inception in 2016, and has been the AAFSW EFM Employment Chair since the fall of 2017, a strong advocate of a fairer EPAP selection system in 2018. She has also volunteered for many AAFSW activities during her stay in Washington, DC from 2016 to 2018 and is a long-standing member of the AAFSW French Conversation Group. Catherine has been in Beijing, China since August 2018, so she was unable to travel and receive her award personally at the 2018 AAFSW Awards Ceremony. AAFSW member Christel McDonald accepted the 2018 Lesley Dorman Award on Catherine’s behalf.

Last but certainly not least, AAFSW Honorary President Susan Pompeo addressed the 2018 winners and AAFSW guests and members with a heartwarming speech on the importance of volunteerism to the communities in which people live permanently or temporarily. AAFSW really appreciated Mrs. Pompeo’s remarks as she mentioned her efforts as a volunteer and the significance of the amazing volunteer contributions of the American diplomatic community abroad.

The Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide would like to thank Secretary Mike Pompeo, AAFSW Honorary President Susan Pompeo as well as all our distinguished guests who were present at the 2018 AAFSW Awards Ceremony, especially State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Human Resources Jeanne Juliao. AAFSW would also like to thank our generous donors, the Regional Bureaus, the Family Liaison Office, DACOR, the SOSA Committee, the AAFSW Board, the AAFSW members and volunteers, and the AAFSW Foreign Born Spouses members for their continued support of our annual AAFSW Awards Program.

As the AAFSW President, I would personally like to thank our AAFSW State Liaison Dr. Mette Beecroft, our AAFSW Program Chair Sheila Switzer, our AAFSW SOSA Chair Yolanda Macias-Cottrell, and our AAFSW Office Manager Barbara Reioux for their boundless support and relentless determination to perfection.

Joanna Athanasopoulos Owen, PhD
AAFSW President

https://www.aafsw.org/blog/2018/12/09/7508/

Filed Under: AAFSW Tagged With: Awards 2018, Awards Ceremony, SOSA, SOSA 2018

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