Class I (2003-2004)

Sponsor Club: United States, District 6440

Matthew began working abroad in 1999 as a Small Business and Municipal Development volunteer with the United States Peace Corps in El Salvador. After 2 years of community development work in rural Apastepeque, he changed roles to help Save the Children alleviate the effects of two major earthquakes, gaining permanent employment in the process. Matthew's next assignment brought him to Afghanistan in July 2001, where he helped manage the distribution of food to 710,000 Afghanis, assisted in the reconstruction of 10 schools, and provided health and nutritional education to the local population. He left Afghanistan in July 2002 and was posted to Malawi, Africa to work on organizational representation and project/proposal writing for Save the Children's emergency drought response there. A Chicago, IL native, Matthew holds a BA in Psychology and Philosophy from Loyola University Chicago. He believes that peace and justice can be achieved through humanitarian action and hopes the Rotary World Peace Scholarship will further assist him to manage humanitarian efforts in complex emergency situations.