WASHINGTON, DC—The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF) is pleased to announce the creation of the “Know Thy Heritage” Youth Achievement Award! HCEF’s Know They Heritage (KTH) Leadership Program to “Explore and Live” Palestine preserves Arab Palestinian heritage and highlights the important location of Palestine as part of the Holy Land by connecting youth of Palestinian ancestry, who live in the Diaspora and elsewhere, with their roots in Palestine. This year marks the 5th year of KTH which has thankfully proved very successful. Inspired by the momentum KTH has been gathering, the KTH leaders of this year and past alumni have created the KTH Youth Achievement Award.
The first ever KTH Youth Achievement Award will be bestowed upon Chiara Cardone, an advocate for Palestinian youth and Consultant of Know Thy Heritage, at HCEF’s 17th International Conference Awards Banquet. The Awards Banquet will take place on Friday, Oct. 16, 2015 at the Washington Marriott Georgetown.
KTH Youth Achievement Award honors a young individual who has made a sustained and extraordinary effort to love, support, and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian youth. The award is conferred to an individual who has demonstrated his or her tireless personal engagement in good works beyond his or her self, for the success of the Know Thy Heritage Leadership Program by empowering Palestinian youth in the Diaspora and strengthening their knowledge of their Palestinian identity, culture, history, tradition and Heritage.
This award gives public recognition to the countless hours of hard work and dedication Ms. Cardone has dedicated to the Palestinian youth in Diaspora. Ms. Cardone dedicated 4 years of her career to HCEF and particularly to the Know Thy Heritage program of which she is a founder. Through the KTH program she made it possible to send over 150 young professionals of Palestinian descent to “live and explore” Palestine. Thanks to her hard work and dedication, youth from around the world were able to get in touch with their Palestinian roots. Ms. Cardone has toiled on behalf of the Palestinian youth, proving that you do not have to be Palestinian in order to stand up for justice and peace. She fully believed in the cause and gave of herself selflessly and completely. Her commitment and solidarity were such that Palestinians could sense that she was Palestinian at heart. Palestine can never thank Ms. Cardone enough for bringing her children back to her. For this and so much more we wish to bestow upon Ms. Cardone the KTH Youth Achievement Award.
In announcing this year’s award recipient, Sir Rateb Rabie, President and CEO of HCEF, stated: “I can think of no individual better suited to receive the 2015 KTH Youth Achievement Award. We could all learn from Ms. Cardone’s living testimony to her faith and her passionate efforts on behalf of all Palestinians to promote peace, justice, and coexistence.”
The KTH Youth Achievement Award will be presented to Chiara Cardone during HCEF’s Awards Banquet to take place: Friday, Oct. 16, 7:00p.m, the evening before the International Conference at the Washington Marriott Georgetown.
