Yesterday we celebrated United Planet day. This took place in Boston – in our offices and on the Common – as well as anywhere around the world where we have volunteers working, meeting new people, and helping to bring about UP’s mission of cross-cultural understanding and mutual respect. We had a great day, and hope you all did too!
We also announced the winners of our 2 competitions held in this day’s honor, and I would like to take this opportunity to share the winners’ stories and the work they have done.
This was the inaugural year of our distinguished alumni award. This was awarded to two very deserving candidates: Amy McNair and Shannon De Atley-Johnson. After traveling to both Tanzania and Ghana on UP Quests, Amy held a fellowship with Tony Blair’s Faith Foundation and Interfaith You Core. She is currently living in Seattle working on developing leadership on college campuses. Shannon participated on a Quest to Tanzania, and since returning has created the MOOSE Foundation – More Opportunity and Outreach for Superior Education. MOOSE organizes cultural exchanges, and fundraises to provide a secondary education for Tanzanian children. Although Amy and Shannon are hugely deserving of their awards, they faced some tough competition from the large number of UP alumni who continue to do worthwhile and necessary work when they return from volunteering placements abroad.
We also announced the winners of our photo, writing and video competition. The Grand Prize went to Sourav Karmakar, of Calcutta, India, for his beautiful photograph ‘Give Me Red’.
The honorable mention in the photography and video category goes to Melissa Malfavon, of Wisconsin; and in the writing category went to Teijna Pickrell, of British Coumbia, for her piece ‘Breaking the Wall’.
Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you to everyone, all over the world, who helped make this year’s UP day so special.
ABOUT UNITED PLANET
United Planet is a non-profit organization with a mission to create a global community, one relationship at a time. Established in 2001, United Planet offers volunteer abroad, virtual internships, internships abroad, gap year volunteering, and global virtual exchange in more than 40 countries.
