King’s student Ryan Hreljac – founder of the Ryan’s Well Foundation – recently received the prestigious Lewis Perinbam Award for his work building wells in developing countries. The full article from the Kemptville EMC is below.
EMC News – Former Kemptville native, Ryan Hreljac has been awarded the Lewis Perinbam Award in International Development for his tireless efforts providing clean and accessible water to people around the world.
Hreljac was honoured over the Nov. 12 and 13 weekend during World University Service of Canada’s (WUSC) International Forum (http://forum.wusc.ca). The awards gala took place at Ottawa’s Delta City Centre Hotel where over 400 hundred professionals, students and high-ranking delegates were in attendance.
At just 20 years old, Hreljac is the founder of the Ryan’s Well Foundation (www.ryanswell.ca), an organization committed to delivering access to safe water and empowering people of all ages to make a difference in the world. At the age of six, Ryan was shocked to learn that people in Africa were dying because they didn’t have clean water, and he took it upon himself to raise money to build a well in Uganda.
Since then, Ryan’s Well has helped build more than 680 wells and 820 latrines, bringing safe water and improved sanitation to more than 723,000 people in 16 countries. Hreljac is currently attending King’s College in Halifax, pursuing a degree in International Development and Political Science.
The Lewis Perinbam Award comes with a cash prize and is in recognition of the grassroots achievements of outstanding individuals who’ve helped to improve lives in developing countries and raise awareness of development issues in Canada.
ABOUT THE LEWIS PERINBAM AWARD
The award was named after former WUSC executive director, Lewis Perinbam who passed away in 2007. Perinbam’s long career in international development includes working for the United Nations, CIDA and the World Bank. The award in his honour seeks to commend individuals who make volunteer contributions to international development.
ABOUT WORLD UNIVERSITY SERVICE OF CANADA
WUSC is a non-profit organization dedicated to human development and global understanding through education and training. WUSC has development projects in 22 countries overseas and local committees on more than 80 university and college campuses across Canada.
Date Published/Broadcast November 17, 2011
News Source Kemptville EMC
