Meet Matthew Heck, this month’s profile for the People Who Move the World Challenge.  Matthew, a member of our Leadership Team, has taken extraordinary action to support the movement to end genocide and mass atrocities in Darfur, Burma, Congo and beyond. 

Last year, Matthew helped organized a 1,300 mile relay from his home state of Kansas to Washington, D.C.  With a nine-member relay team, the trip took two weeks, and they raised $25,000 for Genocide Intervention Network and STAND along the way. 

So you’ve probably noticed that the STAND Blogging Team has taken a little break from our usually regular posts.  This summer, we’ve been busy hiring and training a brand new Student Leadership Team, some of the team members have been traveling abroad, and some of us have been taking a brief but much-needed summer vacation.

Johnny Strange, the youngest person ever to climb the Seven Summits, is Genocide Intervention Network’s newest spokesperson.  Earlier this week, he appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien – check out his appearance!

The trial of Burmese democracy leader Aun San Suu Kyi has brought long overdue international attention to the crisis in Burma, including to the slaughter and displacement of civilians in the eastern part of the country by the military junta.

This summer, I’m interning at the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office in New York City. Part of my job is to help to coordinate an NGO Working Group on Gender Based Violence in Sudan, which works with departments in the UN, like the UNFPA and the OCHA, to help ensure the well-being of women and children in the Sudan.

Last night, the House passed H.R. 2410, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, which authorizes resources to strengthen U.S. foreign policy efforts for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011. Earlier this week, STAND and the Genocide Intervention Network sent letters in support of the legislation, highlighting key provisions that will help strengthen our government’s commitment to addressing ongoing genocide and mass atrocities and to preventing them in the future. GI-NET interns also hand-delivered letters of support to key members of Congress.

Massachusetts students took their call for genocide education to the Massachusetts State House in Boston on Tuesday.  Several students – including MacKenzie Hamilton and Andie Ramirez of Harwich High and Emily Cunningham of Cardinal Spellman (and last year’s Northeast High School Regional Outreach Coordinator) – testified before the Joint Committee on Education.  Before testifying, Emily and the members of Harwich STAND lobbied Senator O’Leary of the Committee, and over 30 people joined them at the Committee hearing to show support for the bill.

World is Witness, a project of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, has featured a powerful story on the Lord Resistance Army’s (LRA) attacks in Congo.

Here’s an excerpt from the story of Marie, a teenage girl who was captured by the LRA during its attacks on Faradje, Congo:

In this week’s issue: the Sudanese government drops bombs in Chad, Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial comes to a close amid controversy, and LRA attacks continue in DRC

In an opinion piece in U.S. News and World Report today, William J. Dobson of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace urges the Obama administration to stop dragging its feet on Darfur: