$20,000 Award Winners
Young Heroes of Swaziland Foundation
The tiny African nation of Swaziland has the world's highest rate of HIV/AIDS, leaving many children without parents. As a result, the country has close to 70,000 orphans out of a population of around 1.2 million. The charity Young Heroes, which aims to keep orphaned siblings together, provides more than 1,000 children with food and warm clothing. It also provides scholarships and is working to implement a medical care project for HIV+ children. Jack Conrad, an Eagan-based Research & Development employee in our Corporate business, who lived and worked in the African nation for three years, learned about the work of Young Heroes through his position on the board of Friends of Swaziland, which raises money and awareness of the plight of the Swazi population. He helped conduct the Red Ribbon Ride - a four-day 300-mile bike ride through the Upper Midwest of the U.S which benefits HIV/AIDS organizations - and has done the ride himself twice, with a portion of the proceeds going to Young Heroes. While living in Swaziland and teaching at Ekukhanyeni High School, he was also involved in building a 40,000-liter water reservoir for the community.
http://www.youngheroes.org.sz/
Enable India
When Sebi Chacko relocated back to India from London, he became heavily involved with Enable India -- an organization which promotes the employment, rehabilitation and training of people with disabilities. Sebi, who is Head of HR in South Asia for our Markets division, has used his HR management and professional skills to raise awareness of this vast talent pool, which is still largely untapped in India. Aside from being active in the running of the charity, he was instrumental in the establishment of a Disability Forum that was attended by industry, government and NGOs. His work with Enable India led to us being awarded the Shell Helen Keller award.
http://www.enable-india.org/
Children's Cancer and Leukaemia Group
Motivated by his own daughter's illness, London-based Neil Ranasinghe is now the Vice Chair of the Patient Advocacy Committee (PAC) - a relatively new part of the UK-based Children's Cancer and Leukaemia Group. Using his editing skills as a Lead Technical Writer for our Markets division, Neil supports PAC by writing and producing leaflets and other documents- one of which won a 2008 British Medical Association award. The work of PAC has recently been enhanced by Neil recruiting Healthcare & Science staff from across the U.S, England, Spain and Singapore who volunteer their own time to rewrite leaflets on cancer treatment that are given to the parents of sick children.
http://www.cclg.org.uk
$10,000 Award Winners
CrisisLink
CrisisLink's aim is to save lives and prevent suicides in the greater Washington D.C. region, which it does by providing support through its crisis center and 24/7 telephone hotline. Katheryn Ryan, who works with our Markets division, became a volunteer listener in August 2005. Since then she has taken on additional responsibilities as a trainer for new volunteers and gives 150 hours of her time to the service each year.
http://www.crisislink.org/
INOVA Fairfax Hospital Women's Center
Many women suffer from difficulties with their pregnancies and INOVA Fairfax Hospital Women's Center in Northern Virginia provides services to these women, and others of all ages and life stages. Judith Grabski from our Legal business used her skills in program and business management to create the Perinatal Care Program, which now provides a broad base of resources and support to parents in need. Since its creation in 2005, the program has seen referral numbers triple.
http://www.inova.org
Room to Read
How do you break the poverty cycle? Room to Read believes a major factor is by increasing access to education and learning opportunities to children in Asia and Africa. Founded in 2000 with 40 local volunteer chapters around the world, Eagan-based Legal employee Elena Condos saw the work of the organization first hand on a trip to Cambodia. She and her volunteer colleague Nicholas Maday, who has since relocated to London, supported the launch of a new Minneapolis/St Paul chapter in December 2008. To date it has raised US$100,000, helping to develop libraries and support scholarships for girls.
http://www.roomtoread.org