There are three people who worked helping Refugees International who epitomize the spirit of the organization. Their names are David McCall, Penny McCall, and Yvette Pierpaoli. Though from different countries and different walks of life, these three shared their passion for helping others. They did it in a practical way, without fanfare, without asking for anything for themselves. They are true heroes.

Yvette Pierpaoli was a French citizen, though really she was a citizen of the world. Her concern was to help others in need. Raised in France, she had a rough childhood. She knew first hand what it was like to be without food or a home. But this did not break her; it made her strong and filled her with empathy for others that was the driving force behind her life's work. She moved to Cambodia and started an import-export business there. She was a successful businesswoman, and used much of her profits to feed the starving, give medicine to the sick, and find shelter for the homeless. War did not frighten her; when it came, she braved its horrors to help others. After the fall of Cambodia, she moved to Thailand, trying to restart her business. She finally put it into the hands of a manager and devoted the rest of her life to helping the desperate people of the world. She started her own relief organization, called Project Tomorrow, and lobbied notables such as Mme. Mitterand, wife of the President of France, for aid. She went to the hot spots where wars, declared and undeclared, created refugees: Central America, South America, and Africa. She worked not only for her own organization, but for others, including Refugees International, where she was a powerful and tireless advocate for those in need. In letters to groups such as the UN, she let the world know the truth about refugee situations in places such as Nigeria and Guatemala. And yet she never forgot the individual. For her sixtieth birthday, she bought land for three displaced Cambodian families. In her last assignment, she went to Albania, where she was helping check out radio satellite receivers that were placed in the mountains. These receivers would enable refugees from war-torn Kosovo to talk with relatives still there, plus provide news and music. There was heavy rain that day, and the jeep Yvette was in fell off the muddy mountain road and plunged several hundred feet, killing her and her friends, David and Penny McCall.

David and Penny McCall were wealthy Americans, with a place in Manhattan and a house in Connecticut. They enjoyed the good life: both enjoyed parties, and Penny loved to dress in the latest fashion. But they enjoyed something else, too: going around the world to help others. Many of their friends didn't know that when the McCalls flew off for a weekend, they were going to such places as Cambodia, where they used their own money to buy pumps for ten villages so that the people could have safe drinking water. David had made his fortune in the advertising business, but always had a social conscience. When he started his first agency back in the early Sixties, tobacco advertising was very big. But David refused to take any tobacco accounts, and later produced an anti-smoking ad. He was the one who thought up Schoolhouse Rock, a series of short cartoons that helped teach concepts of math to schoolchildren. He was already interested in philanthropic causes when he was approached by RI president Lionel Rosenblatt, who asked him and his wife Penny to go on a trip to Cambodia to see first-hand the suffering of the refugees there. Penny, born to wealth, had always embraced causes. She started 14 Angels, an organization created to help Harlem schoolchildren learn how to start and run a business. She also helped with the Bridgehampton Day Care Center, the New Museum, Citymeals-on-Wheels, and dozens of others with money from a foundation she had started with money given to her by David as a birthday present. The McCalls were very taken with the project to bring radio receivers to Kosovo, and had committed $150,000 of their own money to purchase the receivers for the camps. They were eager to see that the receivers were properly installed; that is why they were in the jeep with Yvette. They had gone to the mountains to test the receivers, and were probably rejoicing in their success when the accident occurred that took their lives.

Those who knew these heroes keenly felt their passing. Refugees International dedicated their new office building in Washington, DC, to Penny, David, and Yvette. But the greatest tribute to these three people is that the good they did will live on, effecting thousands of people whose lives were improved by their gifts of time, money, commitment, and love. The world was a better place because they were here. May we continue to find true heroes such as these.