Wall Service Award 2006 Winners
Karry Coon-Carr ’84
Karry Coon-Carr ’84, co-founder of Skills and Friends, will use her $20,000 Wall Award to add to the mailing list, expand the fundraising outreach, and increase the organization’s event offerings. Skills and Friends is a social club designed to “break the cycle of isolation and loneliness” in which many of its autistic adult clients and their families felt. Before this Wall Award, this program depended on volunteers and a couple thousand dollars per year to provide daytrips, picnics, parties, and dances.
"A lot of people are forming friendships they never had before," says Koon-Carr. "And people who've been a part of the club for a while can now welcome generations of newcomers to the club, because their level of comfort and their ability to talk to other people has just gone through the roof." Karry says Skills and Friends also gives many family members of developmentally disabled people a break from the stress of being caregivers, and the joy of seeing their loved ones develop a measure of independence.
Luna Ranjit ’00
In 2005, Luna Ranjit ’00 founded Adhikaar, a New York-based nonprofit organization working to promote human rights and social justice in Nepal. Ranjit saw that Nepalis were often underserved or not served at all by organizations nominally dedicated to helping South Asians.
Ranjit will use the Wall Award money to fund a “Know Your Rights and Resources” campaign with the aim of providing New York-area Nepalis with workshops, health fairs, and information to help them cross into new-immigrant life. Ranjit says, “I will draw upon the two things I took from Grinnell – my dream of making a positive difference in the world, and the confidence that I can do it.”
Learn more about the Wall Service Award and see other previous winners.