2007 Thomas C. Wales Award Dinner


The sixth annual "Night Among Heroes" was held Saturday, October 13, 2007 at the Seattle Sheraton.

Austin Jenkins of KPLU Public Radio served as Master of Ceremonies, and closing remarks were by former Seattle United States Attorney, John McKay. The featured speaker was Ami Dar, founder and Executive Director of Action Without Borders, a non-profit support organization that runs the IdeaList.org website and coordinates and facilitates services and resources for non-profit groups worldwide. Ami was born in Jerusalem and grew up in Peru and Mexico. Struck by the altruistic desire to help others that he observed in all cultures, he put together Action Without Borders as a way these diverse pockets of public-minded activism to share information and help and reinforce each other. Ami has been listed in the NonProft Times as one of the 50 most influential people in the nonprofit sector, and in 2004 he was invited to join Ashoka's global fellowship of social entrepreneurs.

The 2007 recipients of the Thomas C. Wales Award for Passionate Citizenship were Trong and Rani Hong. Trong and Rani overcame the traumatic circumstances of their own early lives to found an organization to fight the scourge of human trafficking. Both victims of child slavery, Trong in Vietnam and Rani in India, they rebuilt their lives in Washington state, and have dedicated their own energy and resources in the fight to save others from the miseries they endured. The Tronie Foundation has helped thousands of people, providing shelter, guidance and support to victims of human trafficking worldwide.

Four other Puget Sound community leaders received recognition from the Foundation as 2007 honorees: Killian Noe, Gary Thomsen, Colleen Willoughby, and Margaret Willson.

2007 Keynote speaker Ami Dar