Our storytellers in Episode 5 are:

 

Gila Cohen-Shaw

Gila is a speech-language pathologist living on Long Island, New York, practicing over 25 years with a specialty in Early Intervention, children ages 0-3 years of age. Her passion is empowering families to help their children reach their full potential. Glia has served on Global Volunteers St. Lucia and Tanzania programs, and is instrumental on the Reaching Children’s Potential Advisory Committee.

Lisa Graumlich

Lisa is a world-renowned climate change expert and distinguished professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her initial work was tracking the climate of an area using data from trees. She served in Tanzania in 2014 with her daughter Maya and again in 2016 to help establish the Reaching Children’s Potential program. Read about Lisa and Maya’s journey here.

Cindy Murray

Cindy is a producer of special events and corporate programs at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. She’s served on 20 Global Volunteers programs since 1997 in the USA and abroad as both a volunteer and a team leader. She has a dual Master’s Degree in Development and Human Resources Management, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre and Drama. She says she’s drawn to the “adrenaline rush” of ambiguity in her personal and professional life!

Marek Błaszczyk

Marek has been Global Volunteers’ beloved community partner in Siedlce, Poland since 1990. As manager of the renowned Reymontowka manor house where volunteers are lodged, he’s hosted and nurtured more than 260 Global Volunteers teams. He’s a fluent English speaker and a “go-to” person in the Siedlce District for English-speaking travelers and dignitaries.

 

Our storytellers in Episode 25 are:

 

Gila Cohen-Shaw

Gila is a speech-language pathologist living on Long Island, New York, practicing over 25 years with a specialty in Early Intervention, children ages zero to three years of age. Her passion is empowering families to help their children reach their full potential. Gila has served on Global Volunteers St. Lucia and Tanzania programs, and is instrumental on the Reaching Children’s Potential Advisory Committee.

Mindy Lull

Mindy holds a B.A. in anthropology with minors in both biology and chemistry from St. John Fisher College. She earned her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Penn State University College of Medicine in 2009. Dr. Lull has been teaching at St. John Fisher College since 2010 and her current laboratory research focuses on the effects of environmental toxins on the brain. She is a member of the Reaching Children’s Advisory Committee and chairs the RCP Clinic subcommittee. She has served with Global Volunteers in Montana, Tanzania, and Peru, and has also organized students to serve on Global Volunteers programs.

Jeff Rogo

Jeff, a retired real estate professional, joined his first Global Volunteers team in 2003, seeking solace in service after the death of his wife. He discovered that teaching conversational English in Puglia, Italy launched his healing journey. Since then, he’s become a Global Volunteers team leader in Cuba, Vietnam, and on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana.

Chemida Popo-Cox

Chemida handles the day-to-day logistics and volunteer management of our St. Lucia program. Formerly teacher and acting principal at Anse la Raye Primary School, Chemida has lent support to volunteer teams since Global Volunteers’ partnership in Anse la Raye began in 2012. Born and raised in St. Lucia, Chemida has dedicated over 20 years to educating the children of Anse la Raye. She received her associate degree in Teacher Education and Education Administration from Sir Arthur Lewis Community College in St. Lucia. In 2011, she graduated magna cum laude from New York City College of Technology, with a Bachelor’s degree in Teachers Technology Education.

Carol Conzelman

Carol is a culture anthropologist at the University of Colorado-Boulder. She is the Associate Director for the Global Studies Academic Program, Faculty-in-Residence for the Sustainability and Social Innovation Academic Program, and directs a summer study abroad program in the Yungas of Bolivia. Carol serves on the Global Volunteers Board and chairs the Reaching Children’s Potential Committee.

Samantha Pinakoulaki

Samantha was born and brought up in the south of England and graduated from a London school of performing arts with honors. She spent ten years traveling the world with various dance groups. Her last group took her to Crete in Greece, where she met her husband of 16 years. They now have five children. Samantha volunteers to help children with mental and physical disabilities in her hometown.

Dan Curran

Dan is a plastics engineer, an inventor (several patents in innovative alternative energy producing products), and now works with a different kind of alternative energy — an energy healer. This is his second service program – he served in St. Lucia and now Tanzania. While in Tanzania, Dan built an oven and molds that will allow garden boxes, a key element for RCP and getting nutrition to families in Ipalamwa. Dan lives with his wife in San Diego. He has a son who is getting his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Colorado School of Mines.

Robi Kronberg

Robi Kronberg earned her Master of Arts in Special Education from the University of Northern Colorado and her Ph.D. in Educational Administration and Policy from the University of Minnesota. She resides in Colorado where she works to create and sustain inclusive school communities. Robi has served on two Global Volunteers service programs, including our inaugural program to Ipalamwa, Tanzania in July 2017. She is already registered to serve again in Tanzania in 2018.

Michele Gran

Michele Gran co-founded Global Volunteers in 1984. She earned a Master’s Degree in International Communications, and previously worked in the government, nonprofit, and private sectors. For the past 33 years, Michele has served as Global Volunteers’ vice president and director of marketing. She’s led more than 50 service programs and serves on the Board of Trustees and Board of Directors.

 

 

Our storytellers in Episode 11 are:

 

Jeff Rogo

Jeff, a retired real estate professional, joined his first Global Volunteers team in 2003, seeking solace in service after the death of his wife. He discovered that teaching conversational English in Puglia, Italy launched his healing journey. Since then, he’s become a Global Volunteers team leader in Cuba, Vietnam, and on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana.

Cindy Murray

Cindy is a producer of special events and corporate programs at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. She’s served on 20 Global Volunteers programs since 1997 in the USA and abroad as both a volunteer and a team leader. She has a dual Master’s Degree in Development and Human Resources Management, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre and Drama. She says she’s drawn to the “adrenaline rush” of ambiguity in her personal and professional life!

Lynn Lotkowitz

Lynn, a recently retired sales manager at Florida Trend, attributes her passion for Greece to her father, who was born in Crete and immigrated to the U.S. when he was seven. That’s the primary reason she chose a Global Volunteers program to Crete in 2013, and has returned twice since. Most recently, Lynn served on our Cuba program. Read more about Lynn’s service in Greece here.

Our storytellers in Episode 13 are:

 

Marcia and Greg Potvin

Greg and Marcia Potvin first joined a Global Volunteers Ecuador program 2007. Greg, a retired corporate manager and former corrections office, and Marcia, a retired teacher, have served in a different country nearly every year since. Read about the Potvin’s Global Volunteers’ journey.

Carol and Dean LaFrenz

Carol and Dean, retired educators in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, have dedicated their lives to children and to volunteer service. Beginning in 2004, they’ve served together in China, Poland, Italy, Greece, St. Lucia, and Cuba and have recruited other couples to join them.

Barbara Morris

Barbara and her husband participated in their first Global Volunteer program in Ecuador in 2008. She’s since volunteered in Vietnam, India, and Peru and has led teams in Montana and West Virginia. Barbara is a practicing geriatrician and serves as Medical Director for Centura Health Physician Group in Denver.

 

Our storytellers in Episode 15 are:

 

Carol Conzelman

Carol is a culture anthropologist at the University of Colorado-Boulder. She is the Associate Director for the Global Studies Academic Program, Faculty-in-Residence for the Sustainability and Social Innovation Academic Program, and directs a summer study abroad program in the Yungas of Bolivia. Carol serves on the Global Volunteers Board and chairs the Reaching Children’s Potential Committee.

Lynn Lotkowitz

Lynn, a recently retired sales manager at Florida Trend, attributes her passion for Greece to her father, who was born in Crete and immigrated to the U.S. when he was seven. That’s the primary reason she chose a Global Volunteers program to Crete in 2013, and has returned twice since. Most recently, Lynn served on our Cuba program. Read more about Lynn’s service in Greece here.

Pam Griffin

Pam is an Organization Effectiveness Consultant at SSA & Company. She enjoys travel, and has visited many cities across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Russia, China, Hong Kong, Australia, Tanzania, Mexico, and the Caribbean for both business and personal adventures. She said her favorite trips were to Ipalamwa, Tanzania in 2008, 2009, and 2010; Pommern, Tanzania in 2012; and St. Lucia in 2014 with Global Volunteers. She joined the Global Volunteers Board of Directors in 2015.

Donna Steffey

Donna is a global trainer with Vital Signs Training. She served with Global Volunteers in Xi’an, China where she taught leadership at XIBI-Xian Business Incubations Center, delivered a key note talk on business trends, and instructed student teachers on presentation and communication skills. She said speaking at communist government school “was probably the most interesting conversation of my life.”

 

 

Our storytellers in Episode 17 are:

 

Lisa Graumlich

Lisa is a world-renowned climate change expert and distinguished professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her initial work was tracking the climate of an area using data from trees. She served in Tanzania in 2014 with her daughter Maya and again in 2016 to help establish the Reaching Children‘s Potential program. Read about Lisa and Maya’s journey here.

Pam Cromer

Pam has been serving with Global Volunteers since 1997 and has led over 50 service programs since 2000. Pam earned a Master’s Degree in Clinical Social Work, and has been in private practice doing long-term psychotherapy for more than 40 years. She has served on boards for abused children, counseled patients with HIV, and participated in early research on death and dying. With all this, she says her “best job in the whole world is being a grandmother to my five grandchildren, ages 5 to 16.”

Jeff Rogo

Jeff, a retired real estate professional, joined his first Global Volunteers team in 2003, seeking solace in service after the death of his wife. He discovered that teaching conversational English in Puglia, Italy launched his healing journey. Since then, he’s become a Global Volunteers team leader in Cuba, Vietnam, and on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana.

Mike Tormey

Mike is a second-year student double-majoring in Civil Engineering and Economics and a Resident Assistant and Scholar at Northwestern University. He and Elisa (below) were co-leaders for a 2017 alternative spring break to Cuba with Global Volunteers. As a campus tour guide, he promotes the university and the College of Engineering to prospective students.

Our storytellers in Episode 19 are:

Cindy Murray

Cindy is a producer of special events and corporate programs at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. She’s served on 20 Global Volunteers programs since 1997 in the USA and abroad as both a volunteer and a team leader. She has a dual Master’s Degree in Development and Human Resources Management, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre and Drama. She says she’s drawn to the “adrenaline rush” of ambiguity in her personal and professional life!

Lisa Graumlich

Lisa is a world-renowned climate change expert and distinguished professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her initial work was tracking the climate of an area using data from trees. She served in Tanzania in 2014 with her daughter Maya and again in 2016 to help establish the Reaching Children‘s Potential program. Read about Lisa and Maya’s journey here.

Julie Knudsen

Julie began leading Global Volunteers teams in 2007 after serving on two U.S. service programs. She’s a licensed clinical social worker currently at a large urban PA school district. She also serves as the Board President of her county’s Department of Behavioral Health/Developmental Disabilities, is a board member of the Montgomery Child Advocacy Project, and is a Youth Aid Panel Volunteer.

Maggie Bjorklund