Shoreh Elhami
Shoreh Elhami is a volunteer with the GISCorps, a volunteer program under the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA), an International professional organization for GIS professionals.
Volunteers within the GISCorps are geospatial professionals who provide technical services in the areas of geographic information systems, remote sensing and global positioning systems. Among many other projects, Shoreh and other GISCorps volunteers have been instrumental in providing vital service location for refugees in Cairo; GIS capacity building in Afghanistan, medical care referrals for the poor in Central America, development of a national web map portal of volcanoes in Armenia; and mapping genocide events in Darfur and Chad. The volunteers create a connection with their clients who need assistance or want to create a better way of life by providing their services either on-site or remotely.
Moreover, the volunteers strengthen local capacity by helping them adopt and use information technology. GISCorps volunteers' services help to improve the quality of life by supporting humanitarian relief, enhancing environmental analysis, fostering economic development, supporting community planning, and supporting health and education related activities.
Volunteers with the GISCorps provide much needed technical services across an enormous set of environmental, disaster relief, human rights, historic preservation, economic development, election monitoring and educational applications. That is what makes Shoreh a Daily Point of Light.
Cora White
Cora has fostered over 200 children in the last 30 years. Knowing personally what these children were missing, she founded Foster Care Children and Family Fund to bridge the gap between government agencies and businesses to provide services and gifts to foster children.
Rachel Turner
Steeped in a tradition that calls to “make it a day on, and not a day off,” Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service (MLK, Jr. Day) is rooted in service to our community. The spirit of service that is highlighted each year during the MLK, Jr. Day of Service inspires many to want to serve on a more regular basis. In the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, many people can thank Rachel Turner for the opportunity to serve on MLK, Jr. Day and beyond. Operating out of Philadelphia, Rachel creates and manages sustainable, year-round volunteer programming the MLK365 program. In addition, each MLK, Jr. Day, she is responsible for managing the outreach and registration process for hundreds of organizations and thousands of volunteers that participate throughout the tri-state area.
As you might expect with someone so integrally involved in MLK, Jr. Day, Rachel is deeply committed to an ethic of service. Prior to her work with the MLK365 program, Rachel served two terms of service in AmeriCorps during 2008 and 2009. As an alumnus of this national service program, Rachel remains deeply committed to the pledge to carry her AmeriCorps commitment with her beyond her term of service. She also currently serves as the Chapter President of the Philadelphia Chapter of AmeriCorps Alums and routinely leads service and professional development opportunities for alumni in the Philadelphia area.
