Andrew Ezzell and JoAnn Patrick-Ezzell – Winners of 2015 One World Award - Sister Cities Association of Sarasota
Andrew Ezzell and JoAnn Patrick-Ezzell are co-founders of the Give Something Back International Foundation (GSBI) and both serve on the GSBI Board. Through their enduring efforts, GSBI provideslife changing, quality education and assistance to children, young adults, and teachers around the world that have had a lasting impact on their lives and families. The overarching mission of GSBI is “Education to Change Lives”.
GSBI directly funds and supports the K-12 education of disadvantaged children around the world. They have provided support for children whose families do not have the financial means to support their education. Since their founding, they have sponsored over 1200 children in Thailand, Vietnam, Haiti, and Afghanistan. Their efforts have also resulted in the construction of many new classrooms and libraries in poor rural areas of Thailand. Planning is underway to build a school in Haiti.
The flagship program of GSBI is the Global Virtual Classroom (GVC), which is a collection of free, online educational activities and resources. The GVC vision is to empower, enable, and connect students around the world using Internet technology. It includes an International Clubhouse, Web Design Contest, Resources, Lessons and Global Participation.
The annual website design contest is a multii-national team learning experience that teaches students cross-cultural understanding, collaboration, giving back to others, and practical job skills in website design and IT skills. Approximately 35,000 students from 62 countries around the world have participated in GVC programs over the past 12 years.
The One World Award recognizes the broad international scope and wide ranging philanthropic activities of Andrew Ezzell and JoAnn Patrick-Ezzell through their Give Something Back International Foundation.