In profile: Thom Moore
Thom Moore, Champaign, Illinois
Day job: Thom Moore, now retired, gets animated when recalling his long career on the psychology faculty of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “I had great students and was part of an outstanding faculty,” he says. “Being around such creative, talented people, I was always learning something. That part I truly miss.”
He’s also enthusiastic about how MEDA tackles poverty with business solutions that go beyond charity and provide a way for the poor to become self-reliant. “The business of self-sufficiency is thrilling to me,” he says, adding that if MEDA maintains its current path “maybe someday there will no longer be a need for it.” He says, “I believe that this is consistent with the Mennonite mission and practice of the Jubilee.”
Most fun: A highlight was last year’s MEDA tour to Tanzania. “It was exciting to see Africa and to witness the energy of people who, despite their poverty, are not despairing,” he says. Thom enjoyed making connections with local people, like some youths in the Serengeti with whom he talked basketball, and the hotel doorman in Dar es Salaam, who went out of his way to direct him to a CD store. “I still keep up e-mail contact with them,” he says.
Hobbies: Keeping fit and connected in retirement is like a hobby for Thom. Five days a week you’ll find him at a local fitness center that doubles as a social venue for retirees. He serves on the Champaign County Mental Health Board, and both he and his wife, Martha, are on the citizens’ board of the University of Illinois Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
Back to the MEDAzine index
