Lisa Shannon—Founder, Run for Congo Women, a group that organizes jogging races to benefit Women for Women International’s sponsorships in the Democratic Republic of Congo

More than 4 million people have died in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Even after a peace accord was signed in 2003, a thousand people continue to die every day. Lisa Shannon was at home sick when she saw a special on “Oprah” about women in Congo. She was so moved she decided she needed to do something personally. She took pledges from friends to do a 30-mile, solo run and used the funds to sponsor 80 women in Congo. She went on to set up Run for Congo Women to use runs to support more Congolese women.

There’s a run in Chicago October 21.