Alison ThompsonSpeaker and Booking Agent Information

In Sri Lanka Alison is fondly known as the “Angel of Galle” and in 2015 she was honored at Loyola Chicago University with an Honorary ‘Doctorate of Letters’, in the ‘Humanities’, where she also gave the commencement speech. For the past 18 months, Alison has worked tirelessly throughout Greece and on the island of Lesvos, in the epicenter of the Syrian refugee Crisis, where millions have fled the war zones of Syria and Iraq. In Greece Alison works as a volunteer paramedic caring for refugees with hypothermia and war wounds and has developed a network of over 30,000 volunteers, through her organization Third Wave Volunteers, who support and coordinate direct aid for the refugees. Her mission is to bring love and light to the refugees and to be a voice for humanity for the suffering. Her latest program is bringing in an innovative origami designed solar puff light to the refugees in the dark camps of the Syrian borders. Alison has personally delivered over 15,000 lights to 80,000 refugees.

In 2010, Alison flew to Haiti along with actor Sean Penn and ten doctors to help after the earthquake. Together, they managed a 65,000-person IDP camp and field hospital alongside General Simeon Trombitas and the 82nd Airborne who later honored her with the US Commanders ‘Medal of Excellence’ award. Alison also co-founded We Advance, an organization dedicated to combating gender-based violence and advancing the health and safety of women and children throughout the Cite Soleil slums. In 2010 she was awarded the 'Order of Australia', the highest civilian medal given by the Australian government and Queen Elizabeth the 2nd, for her volunteerism and her contributions to mankind.

Her award-winning documentary, The Third Wave, chronicles her volunteer experience in Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami and was screened at the 2008 Cannes film festival in a presidential jury screening presented by Sean Penn and Bono. She followed up with a book, The Third Wave A Volunteer Story. With simplicity and humility, Thompson inspires everyone to service and to take action just as she has as an everyday, average individual. She tailors her message on how ‘anyone can volunteer’, from a global scope to our own backyards and that “everyone is needed.”