Amy Stokes
Founder Infinite Family & 2011 Top Ten CNN Hero South Africa
Amy Stokes founded Infinite Family after a visit to South Africa in 2003, when she and her husband adopted their son, Calder Qhawe.
The core value of Infinite Family is that by mentoring, African teens would have a better chance of becoming productive members of their schools, villages, and countries. The organization operates by having adults worldwide mentor African teens individually and face-to-face via the internet. Infinite Family provides the technology, mentor recruitment and training, and the mentoring labs. It partners with and trains established NGOs who assist the organization locally.
Infinite Family operates in five South African locations and wants to open an additional 50 mentoring labs capable of housing equipment for 10,000 adolescents per year across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Her work with teenagers started in 1996, when she began employing and mentoring at-risk teens in Chicago. Ms. Stokes has a B.A. degree in economics (Honors) and French, and she was named one of the top ten CNN Heroes in 2011.
