Jennifer Sturgeon

In cobblestone streets across The Hague, Jennifer Sturgeon kneels alongside Dutch neighbors to polish the Stolpersteine — small brass Holocaust memorial stones embedded in sidewalks to mark where Jewish families once lived. It is one of many ways she has woven herself into the fabric of communities that aren't hers by birth but have become hers by commitment. In Slovakia, Sturgeon led the nation's largest charity initiative, raising $102,000 for nonprofits serving refugees, children, and women, and personally advocated for orphanages in Poland and Slovakia. Since arriving at The Hague in 2023, she has organized cultural exchanges, awareness campaigns, and fundraising drives benefiting soup kitchens, trafficking survivors, Ukrainian families, and the Royal Dutch Sea Rescue Institution. Across countries and causes, the thread is the same: she shows up, she stays, and she builds connections across the lines that normally keep people apart.

As President of the Defense Attaché Spouses group — representing more than 20 countries — Sturgeon organizes monthly gatherings and cultural outings that turn a diplomatic formality into genuine friendship across nationalities. She regularly represents the embassy at community events, including 9/11 remembrance ceremonies and Dutch-American Friendship Day.

Her work with the American Women's Club of The Hague has been just as central: serving as Community Development Director during the club's 95th anniversary year, welcoming honorary member Mrs. Popolo, and creating the club's now-annual Trick-or-Treat Open House. With the Stolpersteine Project, her group doesn't just clean the memorial stones — during each cleaning, they read aloud the biography of the person being remembered, a practice that has since inspired similar projects in FAWCO clubs around the world. She also bakes for the crews of the Royal Dutch Sea Rescue Institution (KNRM) and helps spread water-safety awareness about rip tides, and supports BriBos, a charity providing comfort items to cancer patients and their families, named this year's Charity of the Year.

Beyond her embassy and club work, Sturgeon leads a young adult ministry and runs Walking with Purpose Bible studies — connecting virtually with women across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Her academic background in human services, community outreach, and theology, with a focus on marriage and family, has shaped this work; while posted in the Netherlands, she completed an additional master's degree in the field.