The Do Something Awards
...celebrating and empowering the most outstanding young world-changers...
Athletes have the Olympics. Singers have the Grammy’s. World-changers have the Do Something Award.
Since 1996, Do Something has honored the nation’s finest young world-changers. Do Something Award Winners represent the pivotal "do-ers" in their field, cause, or issue and are rewarded with a huge community grant, participation in a special award ceremony, media coverage, and continued support from Do Something.
Five winners will receive a minimum of $10,000 in community grants and scholarships (if applicable). Of those five winners, 1 will be selected as the grand prize Do Something Award winner. That grand prize Do Something Award winner receives a total of $100,000 in community grants. The Do Something Award community grant money is paid directly to the not-for-profit of the winner’s choice.
The SELECTION PROCESS
Do Something Award applications go through two stages. First, the Do Something Award Academy (comprised of former winners) reads through all of the applications and selects the finalists. The Do Something Award finalists are flown to New York City, where representatives from the Do Something Award Selection Committee interview the finalists face-to-face. The 5 Do Something Award winners are announced shortly thereafter in Spring 2010. The grand prize winner will be announced in Summer 2010.
I'M GOING FOR IT AND CAN USE YOUR SUPPORT! The only difficult part is deciding what to include in the application. There isn't enough room to talk about all 14 of the public health programs I'm running so I'm considering doing it on my public health education program that I've been using to train Haitian youth to become community health workers. What do you think? It's a big award and there are incredible people applying for it every year but I think this year might be it for Haiti. You can learn more about the award at http://www.dosomething.org/awards/judging-criteria
I'd appreciate your feedback. Thanks,
Will
Monday, January 18, 2010
1 Week Later
It's hard to believe that it's already been 7 days since the earthquake hit. Miraculously, people were still being pulled out alive as of this morning. The death toll is somewhere between 100,000-150,000 in Port-au-Prince alone. 24 Americans dead and 25 more are presumed dead.
I must confess that I haven't watched a single thing about the earthquake or it's aftermath on the news. I tell myself that I already know how terrible things are and that I need not be reminded by the media. The reality is, I'm too scared to watch the news. It's hard enough for me to find the strength to continue each day knowing that so many people I care about are suffering incomprehensibly. I'm doing what I can to raise money, to mobilize the Brown community and educate people about the situation in Haiti both before and after the earthquake. I find myself hopeful one moment and in agony the next. So much good is being done. So many people have opened up their hearts to the people of Haiti. Politicians have put aside their differences and come together and nations all over the world have stepped forward to join forces. Haiti and its devastation has once again become household knowledge. The question is, for how long? Will we pull out before the real problems are fixed? Will we stop helping once we know the total body count and once the palace is rebuilt? Will we forget about Haiti and the remaining nine million victims of absolute poverty that still live? Or, will we change the fate of these people and give Haiti the support, strength and guidance needed to rebuild what was once a powerful nation that inspired freedom among the world? I pray for the latter.
After President Simmons called for the formation of the Haiti Crisis Response Committee at Brown, I was appointed to lead the medical working group portion with Director of Infectious Disease, Dr. Tim Flanigan. In trying to balance my studies, I've had to give up sleep to make sure that I reach the goals I've created in mobilizing the community and developing a plan for long-term partnerships between Brown and Haiti. Sleep hasn't come easy these last few weeks. I can't close my eyes without picturing my friends buried under rubble and children screaming. At least awake, I can distract myself with work.
"I know that there is a frustration amongst Haitian people, but when I met them, from their faces, I have seen that they have great hope and they are a great, resilient people," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told CNN's Christian Amanpour on Monday.
I must confess that I haven't watched a single thing about the earthquake or it's aftermath on the news. I tell myself that I already know how terrible things are and that I need not be reminded by the media. The reality is, I'm too scared to watch the news. It's hard enough for me to find the strength to continue each day knowing that so many people I care about are suffering incomprehensibly. I'm doing what I can to raise money, to mobilize the Brown community and educate people about the situation in Haiti both before and after the earthquake. I find myself hopeful one moment and in agony the next. So much good is being done. So many people have opened up their hearts to the people of Haiti. Politicians have put aside their differences and come together and nations all over the world have stepped forward to join forces. Haiti and its devastation has once again become household knowledge. The question is, for how long? Will we pull out before the real problems are fixed? Will we stop helping once we know the total body count and once the palace is rebuilt? Will we forget about Haiti and the remaining nine million victims of absolute poverty that still live? Or, will we change the fate of these people and give Haiti the support, strength and guidance needed to rebuild what was once a powerful nation that inspired freedom among the world? I pray for the latter.
After President Simmons called for the formation of the Haiti Crisis Response Committee at Brown, I was appointed to lead the medical working group portion with Director of Infectious Disease, Dr. Tim Flanigan. In trying to balance my studies, I've had to give up sleep to make sure that I reach the goals I've created in mobilizing the community and developing a plan for long-term partnerships between Brown and Haiti. Sleep hasn't come easy these last few weeks. I can't close my eyes without picturing my friends buried under rubble and children screaming. At least awake, I can distract myself with work.
"I know that there is a frustration amongst Haitian people, but when I met them, from their faces, I have seen that they have great hope and they are a great, resilient people," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told CNN's Christian Amanpour on Monday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
