ICCTA Distinguished Alumnus Award

2008 Recipient

 

Penny Deligiannis
Senior consultant for international development
Orthodox Autocephalous Church and Diaconia Agapes
Waubonsee Community College(1985)



Penny Deligiannis is a real-life example of how one person can truly make a difference in the lives of others.

Since the mid-1990s, she has served in a variety of humanitarian roles with the Greek Orthodox Church. Despite language barriers and daily threats of physical violence, she has coordinated international relief projects to those in need throughout the Balkans, Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia.


Penny Deligiannis (left) accepts ICCTA's 2008 Distinguished<br>Alumnus Award from ICCTA president Kathy Wessel and Illinois Community College Board chair Guy Alongi.
Penny Deligiannis (left) accepts ICCTA's
2008 Distinguished Alumnus Award from
ICCTA president Kathy Wessel and Illinois Community College Board chair Guy Alongi.

As director of the Church's humanitarian efforts in Albania, Penny devoted seven years of her life to building preschools, providing farm loans, and raising money for healthcare clinics.

When civil war broke out in 1997, she was one of the few foreign aid workers to remain in Albania. Her emergency relief efforts provided food and clothing to more than 15,000 refugees and families during the crisis.

Since then, Penny has continued her humanitarian efforts around the globe, including relief projects in Southeast Asia following the December 2004 tsunami.

But she is especially proud of the schools that she helped to rebuild in Albania because, as she says, "When you create opportunities for others to learn, miracles happen."

For additional information on ICCTA's Distinguished Alumnus Award, please contact Kim Villanueva at 217-528-2858, ext. 1.