Alison Thompson Responds with Heart

"I first met Dr Alison Thompson in Sri Lanka in 2005, when we were both involved in Sri Lanka's tsunami recovery effort. She immediately struck me as someone down-to-earth and highly motivated to get real, practical work done. Alison wasn't attached to a famous aid organization, let alone staying in a five-star hotel or shuttled around in a huge Land Rover. She wasn't someone interested in having meetings about meetings. She is a doer, not a talker: a people-mover who mobilizes her people to get the job done. Alison is a full-time trailblazing humanitarian, a first responder. Her Australian passport reads like an atlas. The organization she founded has grown into a network of more than 30,000 humanitarian volunteers worldwide. In 2001, she rollerbladed into Ground Zero at the New York World Trade Center, to offer first aid to survivors. This was her moment for an epiphany: Alison would dedicate her life to helping others...This year, Alison has been in Ukraine, where she trains Ukrainian civilians and soldiers in first aid and helps to evacuate orphans from the country." More in this inspiring interview.

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