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by Allison Kozicharow
On October 1, 2010 WiRED International celebrated its 10th anniversary with a luncheon at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. Board members, donors, and volunteers came together on this sunny Friday to celebrate WiRED’s first decade.
After a welcome from board member Sheldon Cohen, WiRED director Gary Selnow, Ph.D. offered comments (read full presentation) on how WiRED began, where it’s been, and where its future will lead, while showing PowerPoint slides and a video from places around the world where WiRED has made a difference.
Dr. Selnow said, “Ten years ago, at the beginning of this new century, WiRED International became a registered non-profit organization. In the past decade our path has twisted and turned across 12 countries on 4 continents. But we have always stayed true to course on several key matters: 1) targeting people in desperate need, 2) using tools of technology to up-date medical professionals and grassroots communities, and 3) supporting the belief that people can help themselves if you give them a hand.”
WiRED’s immediate plans include two specific areas of concentration. Dr. Selnow explained that one focus will be “educating people about clean water—why we need it and how to get it. We have developed an educational program to teach the construction of biosand filters—simple filters that can be constructed from materials available locally. Further, we will have courses on other water purification techniques and on Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT)—an approach to rehydration that some have called a miracle.” Dr. Selnow noted that Other NGOs are working on the problem, but the issue weighs so heavily on global health that WiRED has decided to bring our special training skills and resources to the issue.
 Dr. Selnow added that WiRED will also be “ramping up health education in developing communities. We are expanding our new E-library of interactive training programs for grassroots communities. We pulled together a team of physicians, medical editors, technicians and others, and we’re building our own programs. We have 49 training courses in the field now and are working on an additional 70 topics. Furthermore, we decided to make the entire collection available, without cost, to any non-profit organization working with resource-constrained populations. Health information saves lives. How could we NOT make this available to people who need it?”
WiRED began its work in the Balkans. In 1998 children at an orphanage in Sarajevo drew crayon pictures in gratitude of WiRED’s opening up their world through computers. So it was fitting that WiRED dedicated two of the last remaining pieces of this artwork to Congressman Tom Lantos and to the actor Michael Constantine in appreciation of their work for WiRED.
After Dr. Selnow’s remarks, board members Virgil Scudder and Elizabeth Fine, Ph.D. praised Mr. Lantos’ work with WiRED (read full presentation) and presented one of the orphan’s drawings to Mrs. Lantos. Mrs. Lantos, in turn, expressed her appreciation of this honor to her husband. Tom Lantos was a good friend to WiRED. He supported its international health programs with the Department of State and other government agencies and contributed his own funds in support of the organization’s work.
 Board member Suellen Crano, Ph.D. presented Mr. Constantine with the second artwork tribute (read full presentation), to which he replied that although he was so very honored to be honored, he should be celebrating us and the awe-inspiring work we do rather than his being celebrated himself. Mr. Constantine contributed his time and talents to helping poor and disadvantaged people through WiRED. His star status and the video he made for WiRED have helped draw people to WiRED’s work in developing regions and improved its capacity to provide public health information.
Some final words from Dr. Selnow’s speech summed up the spirit of the day for WiRED and its first decade:
“It has been our good fortune to enjoy:
- A supportive and committed board whose members have gallantly shaped our policy and practices.
- A battery of generous supporters who value our mission to the desperately poor.
- An army of volunteers—writers, designers, technicians, doctors, and just plain folks like you and me.
Everyone in this group—board, supporters, volunteers—give freely to help people they will likely never know. What a remarkable testament to the kindness of the human spirit!”
Read the full presentations given at the anniversary luncheon:
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