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Michele Gran

About Michele Gran

Michele is Global Volunteers' co-founder and vice president. She manages the organization‘s marketing strategy and external messages, and serves on the Board of Directors. Michele earned a Master’s Degree in Liberal Studies/International Communications at Hamline University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism at the University of Minnesota. She has led over 60 Global Volunteers service programs in 21 countries.

Entries by Michele Gran

Reaching Children's Potential Tanzania

Village Families Promote New Dimensions of Mental Wellness in Tanzania

Since 2018, Global Volunteers staff and volunteers have assisted local people in the five villages of the Ukwega Ward of Tanzania in visualizing a model of optimal, community-wide mental wellness to integrate into the primary care system. Beginning in January 2023, a mental wellness assessment will help identify the primary conditions that block that vision. […]

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January 12, 2023/by Michele Gran
Development Impact

39 Years of Volunteer Service Worldwide!

It started in Minnesota, by two people who had a simple idea, about waging peace . . .  In the past 39 years, Global Volunteers has mobilized over 38,000 volunteers to serve children and families in partner communities in 36 countries on six continents. We know that direct, hands-on service cultivates mutual understanding and respect, and helps […]

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January 4, 2023/by Michele Gran
Why I Give Tanzania

Why I Give: Helping Developing Communities Become Self-Sustaining

Hairston Foundation CEO Roosevelt Hairston and his daughter, Sophia, say Global Volunteers’ Reaching Children’s Potential Program (RCP) in Tanzania reflects their commitment to advance self-determination for rural Tanzanian communities. As team members, they witnessed the long-range vision of ending childhood stunting and improving families’ health and nutrition. Read on to learn about their personal and […]

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October 29, 2022/by Michele Gran
Group Volunteering, Service-Learning Tanzania

Students Discover Power in Partnership

Global Volunteers’ Reaching Children’s Potential (RCP) Program benefits from a range of carefully nurtured partnerships in the USA and Tanzania. Two such partners are the University of Central Missouri (UCM), which facilitates scholarships for 12 students each year to participate on one of our service programs, and Rise Against Hunger (RAH) which supplies the fortified […]

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October 19, 2022/by Michele Gran
Family Volunteering, Ripple Effect Tanzania

Family Retraces Mother’s Footsteps in Tanzania

In 1996, Wichita retiree Barbara Pate joined her first Global Volunteers Service Program – headed for Tanzania. A blooming adventurer, and recently a widow, she chose the African country partially to satisfy her curiosity about the continent. She remembered it as a meaningful, enlightening experience, writing in her journal that she was surprised (and grateful) […]

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September 19, 2022/by Michele Gran
Conversational English Poland

Summer with Volunteers was the “Best Experience of his Life”

When Russia invaded Ukraine early in 2022, our Poland host partner knew the wider Siedlce community would soon welcome refugees who would flee their homeland. Within weeks, Global Volunteers mobilized to help community organizations prepare and host women and children who arrived from areas under attack. By summer, children’s camps were being offered throughout Poland […]

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September 14, 2022/by Michele Gran
News and Updates Puerto Rico

New Puerto Rico Service Program Supports Country’s Future Leaders

As a commonwealth of the United States, Puerto Rico is a popular destination for Americans seeking an “international” vacation close to home. As an island in the Caribbean Sea, Puerto Rico is also an unfortunate target for destructive maritime storms. The damage of Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017 is still widely visible. In the farthest […]

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August 10, 2022/by Michele Gran
Family Volunteering Poland

Family Volunteers Say: “Ukrainians Ask Only That We Don’t Look Away”

When the war broke out in Ukraine, Adam and Amy Robinson of Virginia knew they wanted to do something to help Ukrainians. Having served in Ecuador in 2017 with their two sons, Reed (now age 14) and Clayton (age 12), they say they knew that Global Volunteers’ service program in Poland would provide a meaningful […]

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August 5, 2022/by Michele Gran
News and Updates Peru

Peru RCP Program Begins in Target Communities with Child Measurements

In early 2022, Global Volunteers’ Peru staff began outreach in the sandy, hilly district of Ventanilla to assess the needs of families and children to lay the foundation for the Reaching Children’s Potential Program (RCP) in Peru. This is an expansion of our existing Peru Service Program – in partnership with Sagrada Familia – Global […]

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July 26, 2022/by Michele Gran
News and Updates Poland

“Peace is a Luxury;” Volunteer’s Lessons From Ukrainian Refugees in Poland

First-time Global Volunteer Pam Ballard said she couldn’t have correctly anticipated the impact of working one-on-one with Ukrainian refugee families in Poland. And now, she’s not certain she can adequately describe the impact the experience has had in her own life. Back at work as CEO of Community Service Council in Tulsa, OK, her understanding […]

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June 22, 2022/by Michele Gran
Page 1 of 37123›»

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