News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For More Information Contact:
Tara McNally
Phone : 212-527-8892
tara.mcnally@rowland.com
www.WorldofChildren.org
World of Children Announces Winners of It's 9th Annual Awards Program
Child advocacy organization awards more than $100,000 in grants
NEW YORK(November 9, 2006) - World of children, Inc (WOC), an
international children's advocacy group dedicated to honoring exceptional child
advocates around the world, today announced the winners of its 2006 World of
children Awards in New York City. The awards were presented at UNICEF House and
included more than $100,000 in grants, which will help the awardees continue
their work of improving the lives of children around the world.
Founded in 1998, the World of Children was created to recoginize and provide
financial assistance to those making a difference in the lives of children
through its annual awards program, The World of children Awards. Throughout the
past nine years, 53 child advocates from 20 countries have been honored with
nearly $2 million in grants, which has helped touch the lives of 30 million
children worldwide.
"We are incredibly honored to recognize this year's extraordinary honorees and
awardees who have all selflessly given of themselves to make the world a better
place for children everywhere," said World of Children Founder Harry Leibowitz,
PhD. "They are powerful role models, and their example should remind us that
one person does have the power to make a difference."
Nominated by their peers, award recipients were chosen during a three part
selection process, which included a review by the Selection Committee and the
International Advisory Council with final approval from the World of Children
Board of Governors. An independent investigation was also conducted to
establish credibility and accurate representation of each candidate. Comprised
of three awards, the following are the 2006 World of Children Award recipients
who were selected from a pool of more than 200 nominations:
Jane Aronson, MD, of New York, USA, was awarded the $50,000 Humanitaria Award,
which recognizes courageous people who brighten children's future by greatly
improving their opportunities to learn and grow. Dr.Aronson is the founder and
executive medical director of Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO). Seeking to
enrich and enhance the lives of children living in orphanages around the world,
WWO's accomplishments include conducting Ethipia's first NGO training
conference on pediatric HIV/AIDS and establishing on-site schools in Vietnam
for orphans that are not allowed to attend school because they have HIV/AIDS.
WWO's work currently touches 12 different countries.
Nancy Harris, MD, of California, USA, was awarded the $50,000 Health Care Award,
which recognizes individuals who have made a significant lifetime contibution
to the health and well-being of children. Dr. Harris founded the Terma
Foundation in 1993, a non-profit organization dedicated to the health of
Tibet's children, and has worked for fifteen years to reverse the
life-threatening health challenges affecting the lives of nearly one million
unfortunate Tibetan children in the remote Tibet Autonomous Region and adjacent
Tibetan ethnic areas of China. Having a high risk of death from easily
preventable and treatable conditions, such as diarrhea, pneumonia and
tuberculosis, Harris worked with local traditional elders, women and villagers
to develop six integrated child and community health programs. These programs
are implemented by local Tibetan staff as meaningful, culturally acceptable and
sustainable community-based interventions, with emphasis on health education.
The survival of these children is the greatest hope for the the future of this
fragile indigenous culture, which remains geographically excluded from
significant large-scale health assistance. Spending six to eight months a year
in the field, Harris continues her dedication to generate awareness and direct
resources to address this dire situation, which now includes emergence of
multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Her field programs reach more than 300,000
child and community beneficiaries per year.
Cheryl Perara of Ontario, Canada, was awarded the $15,000 Founder's Award,
which honors the work of a child or young adult who makes extraordinary
contributions to the plight of other children. Cheryl Perera's high school
project on the exploitation of children changed the course of her life, and the
course of the lives of countless children abroad who fall prey to the horrors
of commercial sexual exploitation. At sixteen, Perera was enraged to learn that
Sri Lanka, the land of her heritage, was a perilous trap for nearly 40,000
children forced or conned into prostitution. Perera wasted no time. At
seventeen years of age, she played the main role in a treacherous undercover
operation, removing a dangerous pedophile from the streets of Sri Lanka. Her
breadth of knowledge and bravery attracted the attention of dignitaries, and
she was offered employment at the Presidential Secratariat, as the President
Nominee on Child Protection. Now twenty-one years of age, an honors
undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, Perara has broken
tremendous ground to turn the tables on the child exploitation industry where
few would dare tread. Teaming up with other young people 13-19 years of age,
she founded the OneChild Network System upon the principle that "One child
exploited is one child too many." Her goal is to spread OneChild Chapters
across the globe.
About World of Children
Established in 1998, World of Children, Inc.(www.WorldofChildren.org) is a
nonprofit organization whose mission is to honor, illuminate and inspire action
on behalf of children by raising global awareness of the plight of children and
by recognizing and bringing together individuals who have had a profound
positive effect on the well-being of children.
NOte to Editors: To interview any of the award recipients or obtain additional
information, photos or b-roll, please contact McNally at 212.527.8827 or via
email at tara.mcnally@rowland.com.
