Sally Benson
Sally Benson grew up in South Hadley, Massachusetts and lived a solitary early childhood after her mother died when Sally was 2 years old. Living on the edge of town, she enjoyed a freewheeling life out of doors. She attended Sunday School from an early age and that experience provided the core of a religious life and interest. She also became self-possessed and determined to chart her own path, inspired by her grandparent, who took her to the Coast of Maine in the Summer.
She was involved in 4-H and Girl Scouts and from the Scouting experience longed to see much more of the world. She went to Bates College as a Religion Major, and during college, held out to attend one semester in Sweden, discovering Europe and travel as a liberating part of her life.
After College she sought out work with the Ecumenical Voluntary Service and spent a Summer in Okinawa, where she lived and worked with the Japanese students.
Next, through International Voluntary Service, she went to Vietnam to teach English in Saigon. On the plane to that assignment, she met her future husband, Steve Nichols who was also going to teach in Vietnam, partly as a way to avoid the draft. Steve was visiting Sally in Saigon during the start of the Tet Offensive. Their time in Vietnam instilled in them a love of the Vietnamese people and a commitment to the burgeoning Anti-War Movement in the United States.
Coming back to Washington D.C., their house near Du Pont Circle became a center for work against the Vietnam War, with endless organizing meetings and a constantly shifting cast of organizers coming from all over the country, some of whom would be friends for the rest of their lives.
In 1971, Sally went back on the road with the Indo China Mobile Education Project. She also served on the Board of Directors of the Washington Peace Center and later, the Nuclear Freeze Board in D.C.
Sally and her husband, Steve Nichols started the Chino Cienega Foundation in early part of 2003. The Foundation’s funds are available for projects which deal with climate change and environmental sustainability, conflict avoidance and reconciliation, culture and youth programs and sustainable development.
Sally is an educator and longtime justice and peace activist with non-profit management experience. Her global perspective is informed by extensive travel and life in Asia. She holds masters degrees in Education and Theological Studies majoring in social and political ethics.