Saying Christine Ward is an altruist is like calling Babe Ruth a pretty good baseball player. Ward, who goes by the nickname "Tine," is a living embodiment of Luke's gospel that "to whom much is given, much is required." Living in one of the most affluent parts of the world, Ward has used her connections here to help those in some of the most destitute.
"I really believe that we have to help those less fortunate than us," she says. And throughout her life, Ward has made that her driving philosophy.
Sixteen years ago, she was doing philanthropic work for the Duke and Duchess of York. The contacts Ward made then to powerful people in the financial world have continued to pay dividends as she continues her own charitable works, organizing relief efforts to Asia after the 2004 tsunami and to Pakistan the following year after an earthquake there. In 2006, she turned her focus to Darfur. "I was born in Africa," she says, "so it's natural to have an interest there."
Ward approached friends who were executives with firms such as PNC and Blue Mountain Capital and asked for funding to purchase and deliver supplies to Darfur, organizing the Darfur Project as the clearinghouse for the donations. An initial sum of $250,000 paid for a planeload of medicine, which Ward helped deliver. "It's not enough to raise money and buy the supplies," she says. "You have to make sure they get to the people who need them." Since then Ward has raised funds for and accompanied several subsequent relief flights and is hoping to get one more in before year's end.
No small part of her satisfaction comes from acting as a conduit from some powerful and wealthy institutions to the world's needy. "It's just something I happen to be good at," she says.
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