Cheers to the Times Herald in Port Huron, Mich., for this article on social worker Tom Mechtenberg and his wife, Mary.

Tom and Mary Mechtenberg. Photo courtesy of the Times Herald.

The Mechtenbergs are committed to world peace but put action behind words.  The couple have worked as Peace Corps volunteers on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia and helped tsunami survivors in Sri Lanka.

More recently the grandparents of six went to Palestine to help peace efforts between Palestinians and Jews.

“We would not participate unless everyone agreed going in that there would be no violence,” said Tom, a school social worker for 24 years who was named Michigan Social Worker of the Year in 1989.

Social workers are often involved in improving social conditions around the globe. To learn more visit the National Association of Social Workers’ Human Rights and International Affairs Web page by clicking here.

ietnam to St. Lucia to Sri Lanka, and more recently to the West Bank of the River Jordan — Palestine — where they sought to play a modest role in ending decades of hostilities in the Holy Land.