World of Children Awards

Click here to request more information about dates and deliverables for the 2005 Call For Nominations

Extraordinary Global Children’s Advocates Nominated For
2004 World of Children Awards

 Honorees from Four Continents to Raise Awareness for the Plight of Children Everywhere

COLUMBUS, Ohio (October 20, 2004) — World of Children, Inc., an international children’s advocacy group, today named five finalists for the 2004 World of Children Awards. The Honorees hail from Africa, Haiti, India and the United States, and were chosen from more than 100 nominations worldwide.

Individuals honored by the World of Children Awards were selected by the World of Children’s International Advisory Council, led by boxing legend and United Nations’ Ambassador of Peace Muhammad Ali. The Award winners will be announced and Honorees recognized during a ceremony at UNICEF House in New York, N.Y., on Nov. 16, 2004.

The unique awards program lifts up the work of global child advocates and includes the Kellogg’s Child Development Award, the Cardinal Health Children’s Care Award and the World of Children Founder’s Award honoring children helping children.

The Kellogg’s Child Development Award
A $100,000 award sponsored by the Kellogg’s Corporate Citizenship Fund, the founding sponsor and charitable arm of Kellogg Company, recognizes those who have made extraordinary lifetime contributions to children by significantly improving their opportunities to learn and grow. The finalists are:

Marie de la Soudiere, USA: Since the 1980s, de la Soudiere has played a leading role in the development and implementation of programs to protect and promote the psycho-social recovery and social reintegration of children affected by armed conflict, including those separated from their families and those who served as soldiers. De la Soudiere has directly impacted almost 100,000 children worldwide by providing care, family tracing, reunification and community reintegration services in countries all over the world, including Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines, Pakistan, Yugoslavia, Malaysia, Bosnia, Zaire, Congo and Burundi...more

(AWARD WINNER)
Philista Prudence Minjal Onyango, Kenya: Onyango’s influences on African child advocacy and legislation in the face of great personal adversity and harassment rank among her greatest accomplishments. Her research on the inhumane labor conditions affecting children has influenced policy in her home country of Kenya, Africa, and the world. In 1986, Onyango founded the African Network for the Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN)...more

In lieu of selecting a third Honoree for the 2004 Kellogg’s Child Development Award, Kellogg’s Corporate Citizenship Fund will donate $10,000 to the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Fund at the Philadelphia Foundation, founded by the late Alexandra Scott, a pediatric cancer patient and her family. Grants from this fund support childhood cancer causes, primarily in the area of research...more

The Cardinal Health Children’s Care Award
A $100,000 award, sponsored by the Cardinal Health Foundation, the charitable arm of leading health care products and services provider, Cardinal Health, recognizes an individual who has made a significant lifetime contribution to the health and well-being of children around the globe. The finalists are:

(AWARD WINNER)
Dr. Gopa Kothari, India: As a pediatrician practicing in Mumbai, Kothari became aware of the devastating effects malnutrition and the lack of education were having on children living in urban slums. As a result, she founded the Child Eye Care Charitable Trust (CECCT) to combat preventable illnesses plaguing children in that area, particularly the Vitamin A deficiency that causes blindness in thousands of children each year. Through Kothari’s efforts, 68,000 children have been protected from preventable blindness, more than 1.3 million women have received training in health education, and more than 5,000 Indian children have received formal school education...more

Dr. Jeremiah Lowney, USA: As founder of the Haitian Health Foundation (HHF), Lowney originally visited Haiti to perform dental work, but quickly saw the need to provide more comprehensive health-care services for the region’s extremely poor families. For the past 23 years, he has returned to Haiti every three months to operate the Foundation and personally care for more than 200,000 Haitians. HHF now resides in a 27,000-square-foot, three-story outpatient clinic and serves residents of Jeremie, Haiti and children in 104 outlying villages. Health agents trained by the foundation teach breast feeding, sanitation, nutrition and oral re-hydration. Today, deaths of Haitian children under age 5 have been reduced by 50 percent...more

Rona Martin, Zimbabwe: It was estimated in 2001 by UNAIDS (the primary global action advocate focused on the AIDS epidemic) that there were 780,000 AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe, and more than 240,000 children infected with the virus. Martin, a program supervisor for Island Hospice and Bereavement Services for the past 22 years, has dedicated her life to the development of programs that provide direct bereavement services to children and incorporate child care training for their caretakers...more

Last year, Martin worked directly with 115 children to help them cope with their losses. Many other children were helped through caretakers she trained.

The Founder’s Award honors the work of a child or young adult who makes extraordinary contributions to the plight of other children, and is presented annually by World of Children Founders Dr. and Mrs. Harry Leibowitz in conjunction with a $15,000 cash award. The recipient will be announced Nov. 16.

“We cannot emphasize the importance of these finalists’ work enough,” said World of Children Founder Harry Leibowitz. “We are honored to recognize their contributions in working to make a better world for our children. They work tirelessly to ensure a better life for each child they meet.”

About World of Children
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 profoundly positive effect on the well-being of children. Since 1998, the World of Children Awards program has recognized 45 Honorees from 18 countries on six continents, awarding more than $1.1 million that has been reinvested in helping children. Annual awards include two lifetime achievement awards: the $100,000 Kellogg’s Child Development Award and the $100,000 Cardinal Health Children’s Care Award; as well as a $15,000 Founder’s Award, which honors youth serving other youth.

About the Cardinal Health Foundation
Supported by the global resources of Cardinal Health (www.cardinal.com), including more than 55,000 employees around the world, the Cardinal Health Foundation is the focal point of the company’s community relations efforts. The Foundation’s mission is to advance and fund regional and national programs that improve access to and delivery of quality health care services. With annual revenue of more than $55 billion and operations on six continents, Cardinal Health is the leading provider of products and services supporting the health care industry.

About Kellogg's Corporate Citizenship Fund
Kellogg’s Corporate Citizenship Fund is the charitable arm of the Kellogg Company. With 2003 sales of nearly $9 billion, Kellogg Company is the world's leading producer of cereal and a leading producer of convenience foods, including cookies, crackers, toaster pastries, cereal bars, frozen waffles and meat alternatives. The Company's brands include Kellogg's, Keebler, Pop-Tarts, Eggo, Cheez-It, Nutri-Grain, Rice Krispies, Murray, Austin, Morningstar Farms, Famous Amos, Carr's, Plantation, Ready Crust, and Kashi. Kellogg products are manufactured in 17 countries and marketed in more than 180 countries around the world. For more information, visit Kellogg's web site at www.kelloggcompany.com.

###

Note to Editors: Members of the media are invited to attend the Nov. 16 Awards ceremony located in New York, N.Y. To learn more or to attend, please contact Jill Fazekas at jill.fazekas@fahlgren.com or 614.825.1714 by Nov. 12, 2004. Additional information, photos and b-roll of award finalists are available upon request.

For more information contact:
Jill Fazekas
ph. 614.825.1714
jill.fazekas@fahlgren.com
www.WorldofChildren.org