2024 SOSA Winner
Connie Pearson
In the hardest season, she fed, helped, and never stopped.
Israel · Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs · Eligible Family Member
Connie Pearson came to Jerusalem to build bridges. After October 7, 2023, she became a lifeline. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Pearson organized — and often personally cooked — catered meals for overworked embassy staff, IDF soldiers, and displaced Gazan families, feeding people across every dividing line. She joined the effort to evacuate U.S. citizens from Israel, raised funds for IDF reserve units and for West Bank families who couldn't afford food or utilities, and ensured traumatized schoolchildren had supplies to return to class. She helped children get to summer camp. She helped a family whose farm had been destroyed by fire. She assisted a local orphanage in purchasing and renovating new facilities. In a season of crisis that showed no sign of ending, Pearson's response was not to choose a side to serve — it was simply to serve everyone in front of her, for as long as they needed it.