Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to inform the House of an award received by a young woman in my riding.
Heather O'Reilly of Clarenville was presented with the Red Cross Young Humanitarian Award for Newfoundland and Labrador, the Red Cross' highest provincial honour.
At 26 years old, Heather has done more than most people twice her age to reach out to others and make a difference in their lives. Heather, who is a second year medical student at Memorial University of Newfoundland, has done two volunteer stints abroad. Her first was to Guyana, South America in 2002 through Youth Challenge International which is an organization she was introduced to while attending Queen's University and participating in Queen's medical outreach program. It was through this organization that she able to spend a summer and volunteer in Bethany, a small village in Guyana where she helped to educate the local people in health and wellness.
It was her experience in Guyana and her first look at world inequalities that inspired her to set up MUNHOPE in 2004 of which she is executive director.
In 2007, Heather volunteered in the medical clinic of a refugee settlement called CHOGO in Tanzania.
MUNHOPE returned to Tanzania in 2008 and Heather is planning a third trip in 2009. To quote Heather, “To not only know about the inequalities in the world--