Ryan, 18, South Africa

Basic need(s):

Food

Project:

Achieving Guinness World Record for a canned food drive

Ryan aims to inspire others to take action by putting a "spin" on traditional food drives. After realizing that most food drives are not incredibly successful, he decided to challenge the youth of Johannesburg, South Africa to set the Guinness World Record by realizing the largest canned food construction ever built. He formed a group of 80 participants and after one year of planning, they built a canned food rocket out of 26,656 cans of the 36,000 cans collected. The 9.25 tons of food was then donated to seven different charities. Ryan's project has greatly increased awareness of hunger issues as well as encouraged others to reassess their beliefs regarding what young people can actually accomplish.

Photo: Benjamin Quinto