The Foreign Service Journal, March 2016

50 MARCH 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL H ow far can $4,395 go toward helping others? At an orphanage in Haiti, it saved lives. Over the past two decades, the J. Kirby Simon Foreign Service Trust has given out small but valuable grants for projects all over the world. The Haitian grant, made in 2009, helped enclose and waterproof two rooms of an orphanage, and build a third. The two existing rooms had been open to the elements, and heavy rains made them useless as classrooms. When Hurricane Sandy struck Haiti Two Decades of Volunteer Support: Kirby Simon’s Legacy The J. Kirby Simon Foreign Service Trust is uniquely committed to expanding the opportunities for community service to people associated with U.S. embassies and consulates. BY KATHL EEN SHEEHAN AND L I I SA ECOLA Liisa Ecola (at left) and Kathleen Sheehan are former FSOs who served with Kirby Simon at the American Institute in Taiwan. Ms. Ecola’s first tour was inWarsaw from 1992 to 1994. She currently lives inWashington, D.C., where she works at a public policy research institute. Ms. Sheehan left the State Depart- ment in 2007 after tours in three bureaus: East Asia and Pacific Affairs, European Affairs, and Population, Refugees, and Migration. She cur- rently lives inWashington, D.C. Both are board members of the J. Kirby Simon Trust. in 2012, the children in the orphanage weathered the storm in a literal sense, taking shelter in the newly constructed rooms. They all survived in the midst of terrible destruction. The application was submitted by an Embassy Port-au-Prince team of nine people, led by a husband and wife, Cecilia and Jerome Oetgen, who volunteered at the orphanage, teaching the children and sponsoring Christmas parties. Even though the Oetgens were no longer at post by this point, their impact lived on. Stories like this—not all so dramatic, but all meaningful— are why the J. Kirby Simon Trust persists in its mission: issuing grants to members of the extended Foreign Service community so they can give back to the places where they serve. Nobody else does what we do. What Is the J. Kirby Simon Trust? The J. Kirby Simon Foreign Service Trust was started by John and Claire Simon in 1996 as a memorial to their son (see sidebar). Kirby Simon, a first-tour FSO, died of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning while serving at the American Institute in Taiwan in 1995. He was only 33. Anyone who knew him remembers that he had a quick wit, was wise beyond his years and had an immense interest in the demands and challenges of being an FSO. FEATURE