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- Laura Bush
- Barbara Bush
- Jenna Bush
- Lynne Cheney
- Lori Ball, Homemaker (Brookville, IN)
Lori Ball is a stay-at-home mom of 4 children in Brookville, IN. Husband lost his job, had major surgery, were being pursued by creditors, etc. She was helped out when she called the HOPE NOW alliance after hearing Bush talk about it. - James “Jim” Barnard, Chief Financial Officer,
Barnard Manufacturing (St. John’s, Michigan)
Jim Barnard is the CFO of Barnard Manufacturing, a production machine shop located in St. John’s, Michigan. His is a family-owned small business, and his presence is symbolic Job Creation & Worker Assistance Act and the Jobs & Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act, both of which are chartered with making it easier for small businesses to grow, expand, and hire new employees. - Staff Sergeant Craig Charloux, USA (Bangor, ME)
Staff Sergeant Craig Charloux was deployed to Iraq where he was serving as a Squad Leader in an Armored Reconnaissance Squadron. His unit was ambushed. He took 2 grenade blasts, injuring his arm, face, eyes, and leg. Although wounded, he was able to successfully complete the raid, and 8 al Qaeda operatives were killed. - Ambassador John Danilovich, CEO, Millennium
Challenge Corporation (Washington, D.C.)
The Millennium Challenge Corporation is a US agency based on the principle that foreign aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom and investments in people. He has also served as the American Ambassador to Costa Rica and Brazil. - Former Senator Bob Dole (R, KS)
- Blanca González (Miami, FL)
Blanca González is the mother of Normando Hernández González, a political prisoner in Cuba. - Steve Hadley, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
- Steve Hewitt, City Administrator, City of
Greensburg. Kansas (Greensburg, KS)
Steve Hewitt is the City Administrator of Greensburg, KS, a town that was struck by a Category 5 tornado in May of 2007. - First Lieutenant Andrew Kinard, USMC
(Spartanburg, SC)
First Lieutenant Andrew Kinard was struck by an IED iun Iraq. He lost both of his legs, one above the knee and the other at the hip, and caused several other internal and external injuries. He is still on active duty, and an outpatient at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. - Dr. Bill Krissoff, US Navy Medical Corps
(Carlsbad, CA)
Dr. Bill Krissoff joined Navy Medical Corps in November, 2007, at the age of 61. His decision to apply to the Navy Medical Corps to care for Marines came in response to the death of his oldest son. in Iraq in December 2006. - Tara Kunkel, RN BSN CEN, Community Hospital East
(New Palestine, IN)
Tara Kunkel is an emergency room nurse in Indianapolis. Nurse Kunkel admitted a woman in her 70s into the hospital who was complaining of a heart attack. The woman told Kunkel she went to the nearest hospital because she had just read an interview with Mrs. Bush in which she described the signs & symptoms of heart attacks in women. - Senior Airman Diane Lopes, USAF (Danbury, CN)
Senior Airman Diane Lopes entered the Army in 1991, and later joined the Air Force Reserves in 2003. In September 2007, a month into her duty in Iraq, she was wounded by a rocket attack at Kirkuk Air Force Base. She sustained shrapnel & puncture wounds to her right arm and lower body. She was awarded the Purple Heart. - Irvin Mayfield, Musician (New Orleans, LA)
Mayfield was unanimously appointed cultural ambassador for the City of New Orleans by Congress. Irvin’s father's body was found on Elysian Fields Avenue in New Orleans months after Hurricane Katrina. - Dan Meyer, Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs
- Aviation Survival Technician First Class Willard
“Wil” Milam, USCG (Phoenix, Arizona)
In February, 2007, Petty Officer Milam responded to a distress signal in the Bering Sea. When arriving on location, he located a life raft from a boat that had sunk an hour earlier. Petty Officer Milam deployed into the 40-degree water to rescue 4 people. Even though he began to get numb legs from the cold water, he was able to successfully rescue all 4 survivors in the life raft. - Alma Morales Riojas, President and CEO, MANA – A
National Latina Organization (Arlington, VA)
A MANA’s mission is to empower Hispanic women through leadership development, community service, & advocacy, as well as to improve the quality of life of all Hispanics. - Tara D. Morrison, Superintendent, African Burial
Ground National Monument (New York, New York)
Tara Morrison serves as the Superintendent of the African Burial Ground National Monument in New York City. She is the first superintendent of the site. - Tatu Msangi, Nurse, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical
Center; Mother; and daughter Faith Mang’ehe , (Moshi,
Tanzania)
Tatu Msangi is a 35-year-old single mom from Tanzania. When Tatu became pregnant, she went to the a clinic at KCMC and discovered she was HIV-positive. Tatu enrolled in a Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission program & delivered a healthy daughter, Faith. As part of her treatment, Faith received a dose of nevirapine after she was born. She is now over 2 years old, and is HIV-free. - Staff Sergeant Andrew Nichols, USMC (Klamath
Falls, OR)
Staff Sergeant Andrew Nichols serves as an Infantry Platoon Commander in the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division. He is responsible for the training, welfare, and tactical employment of his Platoon. Staff Sergeant Nichols’ unit returned on success (a phrase that Bush described during this address) to the US in November, 2007, and was not replaced by an American unit. - Donna Shalala, Co-Chair, President’s Commission
on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors
Donna Shalala was U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services appointed by Clinton in 1993 & served 8 years. - Dr. Thomas “Tom” M. Stauffer, President, CEO, and
Professor of Management, American University of
Afghanistan (Kabul, Afghanistan)
Dr. Stauffer oversees the operation of the University, which enrolls approximately 400 students, mainly from Afghanistan; 30% are women. - Kevin Sterne, Graduate Student, Virginia Tech
(Eighty Four, Pennsylvania)
Kevin Sterne, age 23, and a 2007 undergraduate of Virginia Tech. Mr. Sterne was shot twice in the right leg while during the Virginia Tech shooting rampage. He fashioned an electrical cord as a tourniquet to stop his wounds from bleeding until the rampage ended and he could be carried to safety by emergency personnel. - Eric Whitaker, Team Leader, Baghdad 2
Embedded-Provincial Reconstruction Team (Fairfax, VA)
Eric Whitaker leads an interagency team of 8 members (from the Dept. of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, and DoD) that works from the tactical to the strategic level to help build the capacity of governing institutions in the districts of Karada, Rusafa, and 9 Nissan in Baghdad.
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