CONTACT | STAFF
GO M.A.D. Staff Members
To contact a Go M.A.D. staff member, please see our names and emails below. We'd love to hear from you!
Founder
Angie Peltzer, angelapeltzer@gmail.com
Angie created Go M.A.D in May, 2000 while a JET in Japan. Inspired by what she experienced as a volunteer at Baan Unrak and Ananda Shyama children's homes in Thailand, she aimed to match more volunteers to small projects who desired support through an on-line database. She is still active in Go M.A.D.'s decision-making process and vision.
International Volunteer Coordinator
 Lindsay Marsh,
lindsay@volunteerinthailand.org
Lindsay is responsible for the Go M.A.D. Sponsor A Child program, updating the website, and is currently working with Baan Dada, a Children's Home in Western Thailand, on their community projects from August to December, 2006.
Lindsay also assists in matching Go M.A.D.'s network of projects with international volunteers and maintains close contact with project directors. She is always seeking new community partners to match with Go M.A.D.'s volunteer base and funders for these projects. Lindsay enjoys promoting projects through the media, through educational activities, and by hosting fundraising events.
About Lindsay
Lindsay grew up in Vancouver, B.C., and has recently completed a Sustainable Community Development Post-Baccalaureate Diploma Program at Simon Fraser University. She has been active with Go M.A.D. since 2001 while a JET in Saga-ken, Japan. She coordinated the 2002 'Christmas Cards That Give' Campaign, which raises thousands of dollars annually for Baan Unrak 'Home of Joy' in Thailand. Lindsay matched her love of travelling with her passion for volunteering by coordinating several group trips to Go M.A.D. projects in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and India, and sourced funding for special projects. She is continuing her work with Go M.A.D. as International Volunteer Coordinator to inspire more travellers to consider volunteering as a way to empower youth and women, and to empower themselves. She recently spent four months with Baan Dada Children's Home in Western Thailand as a Sustainability Project Manager and Volunteer Coordinator for the home and various community projects. Lindsay advocates the role of volunteers in sustainable community development through volunteer recruitment and marketing, published works in newspapers and magazines, and through maintaing close contact with project directors, to ensure the efficacy of volunteer work.
Japan National Coordinator
Marie L. Wojcik, go.make.a.difference@gmail.com
Marie is from the state of Wisconsin, USA. She is a third year ALT (assistant Language teacher) of the JET Programme in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, where she is a support area leader in her city for incoming new ALTS and is an area Rep for AJET. She has traveled around South East Asia and has seen the need for volunteering, thus becoming involved with Go MAD. She is currently working on a volunteer project in India for December 2008 and is helping to raise money for sites in Thailand through Christmas card sales and other projects. She is also in charge of any updates with our current site.
About Marie:
Marie became active in volunteering at a young age and was awarded the Youth Presidential Service award for tutoring underprivileged children for four years. Her interest in volunteering continued through campus ministry, participating in Spring break Service trips around the USA at her University, working with Habitat for Humanity as well as teaching and as an advocate of the environment as an environmental educator in Wisconsin.
Her study abroad adventures led her to Spain, throughout Europe and Central America where she studied Spanish and volunteered, donating school supplies to local schools.
Marie was a Vista Americorps volunteer in 2003-2004 in Washington State where she was a Program Literacy Coordinator, designed sustainable programs for the community, tutored and raised money for school supplies. She has written and presented a paper on Volunteering within your community/Community Outreach at Portland University. She has worked for Youth for Understanding and has taught children from around the world Spanish and English at Concordia Language villages in Minnesota.
Marie holds a BA in Sociology/ Spanish from St. Bens/St. John’s University.
Fundraising Coordinator
 Katheryn Vigna,
gomadfunds@gmail.com
Kathryn is from the U.S.A and in her second year in Minami-Izu, Japan. Kathryn started volunteering when she was 15 years old, starting a BINGO club at the local nursing home. She also spent time volunteering at a domestic violence center and as a youth mentor. With an educational background in Visual Arts, she is currently a fine arts photographer. She has traveled throughout Africa, Europe and now Asia, as a photographer, student and teacher, but her passion lies in volunteer work.
Kathryn’s first Go-Mad experience was at Baan Unrak, Thailand in December 2006. She is thrilled to be returning to Baan Unrak this December as well. Combining her passion for photography and volunteer work, she hopes to spread awareness of Go-Mad and other non-profit organizations throughout Japan and worldwide.
Card Sale Coordinator
 Vicky,
gomadcardsales2@gmail.com
Victoria is responsible for the annual 'Christmas cards that give' campaign within the non-Jet community. The nationwide "Christmas Cards That Give" Campaign involves more than 50 Christmas Card sellers across Japan selling, on average, 100 packs of cards. All proceeds support Baan Unrak 'Home of Joy' in Thailand.
She is also responsible for National and International Public Relations and outreach. This involves raising awareness about Go MAD projects and campaigns within the non-Jet community, focusing initially on universities and colleges. She will also be promoting volunteer opportunities within Japan in both the Japanese and Foreign community.
Victoria comes form North Wales and was an English Language teacher on the JET Programme 2005-2007. From August, she left her JET placement on a rural island to live and teach in Nagasaki city, mainland Japan. She has a bachelors degree in Sociology and Criminology, and hopes to complete a Masters programme in Development Studies on return to the UK. Her involvement in Go MAD began with selling cards for and volunteering at Baan Unrak orphanage in Thailand in 2006. She also visited Indonesia to volunteer at both Junior and Senior High Schools in a city in Java. More recently, she led the 2007 Christmas trip to Baan Unrak with Kathryn Vigna and Sarah Ryer. Victoria also spends free evenings and weekends visiting orphanages in the local area.
Volunteer/ Card Sale Coordinator
 Keir Storrar,
gomadcardsales@gmail.com
Keir is in charge of recruiting volunteers for the annual 'Christmas Cards That Give' and the Thai woven goods campaigns. The nationwide "Christmas Cards That Give" Campaign involves more than 50 Christmas Card sellers across Japan selling, on average, 50 packs of cards. All proceeds support Baan Unrak 'Home of Joy' in Thailand.
Keir is mainly from Edinburgh in Scotland, where he studied History and Japanese, and spent his third year abroad in Kyoto. He returned to Japan after graduation and is now in his second year as a translator and cultural coordinator in Gifu Prefecture. Since coming back to Japan, he has started to develop his interest in international volunteering. As part of his fundraising for a ten-day trip to India to work with Dalits through the Building Communities group, he organised a 22-person sponsored cycle trip across Japan's Inland Sea, which raised over $6000. This money helped build 10 permanent concrete houses for Dalit widows in Andhra Pradesh. This was so much fun Keir decided to join Go MAD, where he is managing the card selling campaign for the wonderful people of Baan Unrak orphanage in Thailand. He is constantly impressed by the things volunteering can accomplish, is a believer in the power of language to overcome perceived cultural barriers, quite likes beer, and is a secret fan of the phrase, "why can't we all just get along?"
Former National Coordinator, 2006-2007
 Rachel Allen
Rachel was a National Coordinator in 2006-2007 when she led a trip of 21 volunteers to Baan Unrak during the Christmas holiday. As the official funding coordinator, she designed a new system of tracking all funds for Go MAD activities using an NPO-style format. She also collected and distributed money for international project sites.
Throughout her tenure with Go MAD, Rachel wrote and published articles about charity activities in The Japan Times (Tokyo), North American Post (Seattle), and various JET alumni publications. She designed numerous brochures and other printed promotional materials and helped independent JETs and non-JET volunteers arrange group trips to Go MAD sites.
Former National Coordinator, 2006-2007
 Jennifer Leigh Hobbs
Jennifer was a National Volunteer Co-ordinator for 2006 – 2007. She coordinated Go-MAD volunteers throughout Japan and recruited support for Go-MAD projects. The projects included the annual “Christmas Cards that Give” Campaign, and Thai Woven Goods sales. The campaign raised some1,105,000yen for the Baan Unrak “Home of Joy” Orphanage in Thailand. She also created the “Shop with a Cause” link for the Go-MAD website, making the campaign to raise money for the orphanage a year-round project. She established a partnership between Go-MAD and Peace Boat to further promote the Christmas Card Campaign. In addition, she coordinated a Greeting Card Campaign, for the NGO POOR, which raised 165,000yen for school development projects in rural India and helped POOR with website development.
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