Tag Archives: Free the Children

Free the Children’s We Day hits Toronto

Posted in Confessions of a Magazine Intern by

While sitting in a classroom, doing homework and listening to a teacher lecture are things most students find themselves doing on a Friday morning, on September 20, thousands of youth were spending their time differently—at Free the Children’s annual We Day in Toronto.

IMG_0116_1

The Air Canada Centre was packed with 20, 000 students and educators from over 950 schools in the area. Joining them was a star-studded lineup of performers and guest speakers including The Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato, Austin Mahone and Imagine Dragons. Gleestar Darren Criss took over the stage as a co-host along with Canadian TV personalities Aliya-Jasmine Sovani and Scott Willats.

IMG_0129_1

The daylong event didn’t just offer up motivational speeches from people like Martin Luther King III, who exemplified the importance of education or Molly Burke, who spoke out against bullying, but it also kicked off the Year of Education; every year, We Day jumpstarts a year-long fundraising commitment, launched by Free the Children co-founders Craig and Marc Kielburger. This year’s goal is to build 200 new schools in Free the Children’s overseas communities. With different campaigns, including a coin drive, cross-Canada road tour, online celebrity challenge and ABC Education Rafiki Friend Chains, the goal to raise $10, 000 to build one new school or school room in a developing country can easily be met with the help of donations.

IMG_0152_1

IMG_0046

IMG_0147

It wasn’t just the kids in attendance who were inspired; Darren Criss also walked away from the event with the desire to do good.

“It’s somewhere in between completely inspiring and completely frustrating because I’m like, man these kids and these people are doing so much. I am so lazy and I need to get off my butt and do more with my life. But it’s absolutely more inspiring than anything else,” he says. “It’s cool when you see this very concrete example of youth empowerment and people doing things that you hear about, but you see it in real life and you can’t help but be invigorated by this idea that we really can make a difference.”

IMG_1609_1

IMG_1614_1

For Demi, her involvement with Free the Children has made a great impact on her life, as she has “started a new chapter.”

“When I went to Kenya with Free The Children, I did a lot of work with them, and it changed my entire perspective on life and what I want out of it,” she said. “I’m here today not only to thank Free The Children for everything that they’ve done, but also, We Day in particular is such an incredible event because everyone in the audience has done good for their community and that’s inspiring.”

IMG_0167

IMG_0189

Whether you’re a 10-year-old elementary school student or an award-winning singer and actress, We Day made it clear that everyone can make a lasting change in the world.

And while you couldn’t buy a ticket to We Day to watch the action live (you had to earn your seat through service), you can catch the event broadcast on MTV and Much November 11.

Blog Action Day 2012: Power of We

Posted in Confessions of a Concertgoer by

In a world that seems to revolve around everything “I”–with the most popular products themselves being labeled as “iPhone”, “iPad” etc.–it’s important to take the time to recognize how much power “we” has.

When people come together to do great things, whether it’s create the next big technology or peacefully protest for a cause they strongly believe in, great things can happen.

Free the Children’s We Day, which I recently attended in Toronto, focused on the “power of we” throughout the huge youth empowerment event and introduced one particular campaign that really demonstrates how the coming together of many people can create a lasting difference.

It’s called “We Create Change”, a penny drive, made possible by RBC, that aims to provide 100, 000 people with permanent sources of clean water.

Somehow, the numbers one and 100, 000 seem so far off from each other that they don’t belong in one sentence together.

However when Canadian youth come together to collect pennies to create change, the smallest amount of one cent can amount to saving 100, 000 people.

“Growing up, I’m sure I wasn’t alone in having a piggy bank filled with pennies and loose change, so why not use this change to help make real change possible,” said Craig Kielburger, Founder of Free the Children. “Free the Children is going back to basics this year with a penny drive, and it’s now easier than ever to make your cents count.”

The Canadian penny will soon be going out of circulation, and this campaign brings together students to give a powerful send-off to it.

One penny bag, which is provided to students and schools by Free the Children, once filled equals to $25 and is enough to provide one person with a permanent source of clean water.

“We Create Change” is one campaign that definitely shows the positive impact of the “power of we”.

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”  – Helen Keller

Be sure to check out Free the Children’s promo video for “We Create Change” featuring the Jonas Brothers, The Wanted and Nelly Furtado:

Free the Children’s We Day Toronto

Posted in Confessions of a Magazine Intern by

We Day has always been an event I’ve wanted to attend, but never had the chance to. So when I was able to get a media pass I couldn’t help but be excited.

What I knew of We Day was this:
-There were Celebrity guests and performances
-There were 20, 000 kids who showed up
-It was a day full of inspiring speeches and videos

But nothing could have prepared me for the feeling of walking into the jam packed ACC with thousands upon thousands of kids cheering for the same common goal: to change the world for the greater good.

We Day 2012 in Toronto saw Al Gore, Hedley, Jake Zeldin, Jennifer Hudson, Jesse Giddings, Justice Murray Sinclair, Justin Trudeau, Martin Sheen, Molly Burke, Romeo A. Dallaire, Shawn Desman, Spencer West, The Tenors and Tyler Shaw take the stage.

It was a day full of excitement, dancing and cheering and one that left students with the inspiration and materials to “be the change they want to see in the world.”

Craig Kielburger, Nelly Furtado and Hedley’s Jacob Hoggard came into the press room for a press conference and to announce Free the Children and RBC’s mission to provide 100, 000 people with permanenet sources of clean water through Canada’s largest penny drive deemed the “We Create Change” campaign.



Full gallery of We Day Toronto:

We Day will continue to inspire kids as it makes it’s way across Canada, bringing the inspiring messages to thousands of more kids in cities like Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa and Edmonton during the largest season to date.