Mercy Corps Announces Honorees of Fourth Annual Global Action Awards

October 1, 2008

Katie Simon (middle) created Minga to address the global sexual exploitation of children in the Philippines.

New York City - Mercy Corps, the global relief and development organization, today announced the recipients of its annual Global Action Awards. The Awards are given to students from the U.S. who have taken outstanding actions to fight global poverty. This year's Awards celebrate the resolve with which the awardees have confronted the crisis in Darfur, sexual exploitation of children and lack of access to healthcare.

The 2008 Mercy Corps Global Action Award honorees and their projects are:

Ana Slavin (age 18, Sherborn, Massachusetts) and Nick Anderson (age 19, Conway, Massachusetts). Ana and Nick launched the "Dollars for Darfur" virtual campaign which, in its first year, raised more than $300,000 and involved more than 7,000 high school students to help the people of Darfur.

Sindhu Ravishankar (age 19, Cary, North Carolina). An aspiring doctor, Sindhu raised funds and collected eye glass frames for her "Vivid Vision" project. She funded eye care camps in two rural Indian villages that helped almost 1,000 patients receive free eye care, dramatically improving their quality of life.

Katie Simon (age 16, Newton, Massachusetts). After learning about the global sexual exploitation of children, she created "Minga" to build a rehabilitation center in the Philippines for recovering child prostitutes. She expanded Minga to Guatemala and organizes awareness campaigns at high schools to educate about the issue.

Full biographies of the 2008 Global Action Awards honorees are available at GlobalActionAwards.org.

"At Mercy Corps, we see the power of young people around the world to lead the charge against poverty and injustice," said Nancy Lindborg, Mercy Corps president and judge for the Global Action Awards. "Each of these awardees has the kind of courage, commitment and enthusiasm needed to create positive change, and most importantly, the ability to inspire others to join them."

The honorees where chosen by a distinguished panel of twelve individuals who share a commitment to fighting global poverty. The judges include Noble Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel, Grassroots Soccer founder and "Survivor: Africa" winner Ethan Zohn and Foreign Affairs Editor James Hoge, Jr. The judging panel based their selections on the innovation, leadership and impact of the honorees' efforts. The young awardees will receive $5,000 which they can use to further their own education or contribute to the poverty-fighting cause of their choice.

"It is an honor to be a part of the Global Action Award judging panel and to recognize the achievements of four exceptional, globally engaged students" said Abigail Disney, filmmaker, president of the Daphne Foundation, grandniece of Walt Disney and a member of the judging panel. "These honorees, chosen from thousands of applications, are future leaders in the global fight against poverty. I have no doubt they will go on to achieve great things for this world."

In its fourth year, the Mercy Corps Global Action Awards attracted more than 3,000 applicants in the U.S. who have organized and led a project that has improved the lives of poor people or raised awareness about issues of global poverty.

The honorees and their projects will be celebrated on the evening of October 22nd at Mercy Corps' Action Center to End World Hunger in New York's Battery Park City. The Action Center, which will open just one week before the event, is a first-of-its-kind interactive, multimedia space that educates visitors about the complex causes of hunger and poverty, and offers concrete actions they can take to help tackle these problems. Global Action Award judge Abigail Disney will present the awards to the four honorees.