The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations today (February 28) awarded Rihanna the Peter J. Gomes 2017 humanitarian of the year award. She received the award for the oncology center she built in Barbados, plus her efforts in expanding higher education opportunities through a scholarship program.
“Rihanna has charitably built a state-of- the-art center for oncology and nuclear medicine to diagnose and treat breast cancer at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bridgetown, Barbados,” said Harvard’s foundation director, S. Allen Counter in an interview with the Harvard Gazette.
“In 2012, she founded the nonprofit the Clara Lionel Foundation Global Scholarship Program [named for her grandparents] for students attending college in the U.S. from Caribbean countries, and supports the Global Partnership for Education and Global Citizen Project, which provides children with access to education in over 60 developing countries, giving priority to girls, and those affected by lack of access to education in the world today.”
And while the event may have been within the stuffy halls of Harvard, Rihanna still gave us fashion, wearing an off-the-shoulder grey pants suit from the debut fall collection of Monse, headed by Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia, who are also new head designers at Oscar de la Renta.
Watch Rihanna give her acceptance speech at 39:25 below.
