Beginning in 2021, CHOICE Humanitarian has been recognizing outstanding humanitarians at the annual CHOICE fundraising gala through the presentation of the James B. Mayfield Humanitarian Award. The namesake for this award, Jim Mayfield, is one of CHOICE's co-founders who has exhibited a lifelong passion for reducing global poverty.
Annual honorees demonstrate a similar advocacy for championing underserved global communities, and for the 2024 edition, Dr. Timothy S. Evans was the distinguished selection for the award.
In a special exchange from co-founder to co-founder, Tim received the award from Jim in front of more than 350 guests, friends, and partners at the 2024 "Woven in Srength" gala. Jim had this to share about Tim's humanitarian efforts:
“In my mind, there are few people in this world who deserves this honor more than Tim Evans. I now realize that Tim was to be a tender mercy in my life as we, together, established a marvelous organization, helping thousands of poor villagers come out of the scourge of poverty. Thank you, Tim, for all you have done.”
As a young man, Tim visited rural Peru and saw firsthand the devastating poverty that families faced day in and day out. He returned home to the United States, and as many do, he felt inspired to make a difference. However, unlike many—he did something about it. Flash forward to now, and over the past 42 years, CHOICE Humanitarian has grown from its humble beginnings in 1982 as the Andean Children’s Foundation to a global organization touching millions of people in seven countries. Dr. Evans, along with Dr. Mayfield as co-founder, established this vision for CHOICE: people everywhere deserve to have a choice and path out of poverty.
Along with serving as a longtime board member, Tim’s continued advocacy across four decades has been core to CHOICE’s impact. His legacy is well-loved and respected by CHOICE staff, donors, and community members around the world.
While accepting the award at the gala, Tim said, "I am honored and humbled to be counted among my predecessors who have received this prestigious award." He then went on to recognize several key people who have been instrumental to CHOICE's foundation, as well as it's continued operations through both hard times and good times.
Tim also reflected on how CHOICE has even helped in countries it doesn't operate in, referencing a time when Willy Mendoza provided information on building well systems for a group in Mozambique. Shared Tim:
"There is worldwide impact, and lasting impact, of some of the project technologies CHOICE has used that have spread around the world. Like Dr. Mayfield has taught in his educational courses: ‘small is beautiful.’"
Without Tim's motivation to do something about the injustices he saw as a young man, CHOICE wouldn't exist as it is today. He and Jim have established a legacy of humanitarian impact, and because of that, CHOICE is able to support incredible and resilient communities on building a path out of poverty. Join us in honoring Tim for all he has done to change lives and make the world better.