Past Recipient Profile - Christine Feldmeier

The recipient of the award in 2007 is Ms. Christine Feldmeier, a major in Chemistry and Biochemistry. Christine has been part of the Villanova Habitat for Humanity steering committee since her sophomore year, and has served as an affiliate director. She has participated in mission trips to Chulucanas, Peru, and, as co-leader, to Durban, South Africa, and currently volunteers at Siloam, a center for AIDS wellness in Philadelphia. Most notably, Christine has initiated two projects in the impoverished province of San Juan la Maguana in the Dominican Republic.

Forging a partnership with her hometown community of Beaver, Pennsylvania, she has helped to sponsor San Juan’s health care clinic, and has worked there herself in the delivery of pre-natal examinations, vaccinations, and instruction about sanitation and the prevention of infection. In addition, she launched a program of teaching piano to children and teenagers in the province that has expanded both an awareness of their human possibility as well as their economic opportunity. Next year Christine Feldmeier will study medicine at Thomas Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, where she intends to continue to enlist support for and serve the San Juan clinic. She plans, in her words, “to use my medical training in the future to continue to make a difference in the lives of the poor.” Congratulations — and thank you — Christine!