What happens when you put 20 000 teenage student leaders, all together in a single stadium, with a host of motivational speakers, international leaders, heroes, celebrities, government officials, celebrities, and musicians? This, is We Day. One of the most exhilarating and inspiring experiences a kid will ever experience. It is a movement that begun in Toronto in 2007, now has 14 events in 3 countries every year, setting up a new generation of global citizens to be leaders of today, not just tomorrow.
We Day
Every year Toronto, and now a growing list of other cities, host an event called We Day. The event is such a big deal, that the biggest newspaper in Canada, the Toronto Star, often publishes an entire section on it every year. Me to We Day, as it was originally named, was created by the company Me to We in 2007. Me to We is the social enterprise created by WE (formerly Free The Children), a registered charity in operation since 1995. It was an idea to bring together motivated youth give them resources, inspire them to help in the fight against poverty. It evolved to encompass continue contributing to their local, national and international communities. A sports game might have comparable feelings of excitement during a goal, and near the end of the game, but We Day is able to maintain these feelings, engage the audience and foster inspiration, motivation, & confidence.
Former guests have included (click any for more info): the Dalai Lama, Romeo Dallaire, Michaëlle Jean, Al Gore, Malala Yousafzai, Richard Branson, Martin Luther King III, Mia Farrow, Desmond Tutu, Jane Goodall, Justin Trudeau, Ben Mulroney, Paul Martin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Jeffrey Skoll, Magic Johnson, Pete Carroll, Michael “Pinball” Clemons, Rick Hansen, Scott Hammell, Spencer West, Seth Rogen, Carly Rae Jepsen, Kardinal Offishall, Henry Winkler, Demi Lovato, K’Naan, Selena Gomez, Mackelmore, Jennifer Hudson, Down With Webster, Hedley, Justin Bieber, Nelly Furtado, the Jonas Brothers, Kiesza, Jason Mraz, The Barenaked Ladies, MC Hammer and so many more impressive people. And the best part is, it’s all free thanks to numerous corporate sponsors. High school, elementary kids and teachers come from all over to participate in this unique experience.
One of the speakers at the We Day Toronto 2015 event mentioned that studies have been done on the lasting impression that We Day has had on people who have watched and especially attended are more involved, socially conscious young adults. They vote more, donate more, volunteer more, and looking at the people I know who have experienced We Day, I couldn’t agree more. One of the primary reasons why We Day is so successful, is due to the fact that the entire movement has largely been driven by youth for youth. The charity is well described by its original slogan: “Children Helping Children Through Education”.
I had the privileged opportunity to attend the 3rd We Day in 2009, and am still inspired by the experiences I had that day. To this day, I still carry around the medallion they gave out to everyone on my keys which has both hemispheres of the world on either side along with “I am Happy, Healthy, Wealthy, Giving, Loving, Thankful” and “Change Begins With Me”.
WE (formerly Free The Children)
WE is a charity that was founded in Ontario, Canada by 12-year old Craig and his older brother, Marc. It all began one morning when Craig was looking through the Toronto Star for comics, when the came across the story of a 12 year old boy from Pakistan named Iqbal. A former child slave, he had been murdered for speaking up for human rights, specifically against child-slavery in that area of the world. Craig instantly made a connection, thinking that had he been born somewhere else in the world, that could have easily been him.
Craig gathered some of his friends from his Grade 7 class, and with the support of his parents and teachers, they begun taking action in any way they could. They quickly figured out that trying to free children from slavery was not enough, they had to address poverty as the main root cause of it. Solving poverty encompasses a variety of problems that need to be addressed simultaneously. WE has expanded tremendously; it’s original area of focus, now WE villages continues to try to end poverty worldwide within our generation by addressing five “pillars”: Clean Water & Sanitation, Agriculture & Food Security, Health, Education, & Alternate Income.
Craig has been featured on Oprah, invited to the White House, his charity is among the most well known in Canada, especially among Millennials, and continue to be featured in numerous articles, and interviews. They have garnered support from thousands of students across the world, and their positive influence is admirable. Over 20 years after founding, the charity has made some tremendous progress, and they’re just getting started.
Me to We
Me to We is a socially responsible company that donates 50% of its net profits to Free The Children, and reinvests the other half back into the company to continue growing it. It’s an admirable business model similar to what the Mozilla Foundation has. It was created by Free The Children to act as the commercial leg of it’s mission, selling fair trade clothes, jewelry, school supplies, bags, water bottles, books, DVDs, music, along with camps, speakers, leadership programs, and volunteer trips. By having a charity-enterprise combo like Me to We has with Free The Children means that 100% of proceeds donated to the charity go towards the cause intended, while marketing and administration can be covered by the business.
Lieutenant-General The Honourable Romeo Dallaire, previous senator and a Canadian Hero, said that he hoped that, as a rite of passage for Canadians, they travel to a third world country to volunteer like this before graduating high school. They bring together people of all backgrounds, for a well intentioned, let’s build a school, teach children, learn from the community, and experience daily life there kind of trip. That’s exactly what I found myself doing in Kenya for 3 weeks, nearly a year after my We Day experience. Part of the reason I think I was able to fund raise $5500 in 10 months I attribute to the lasting inspiration I received from We Day.
My volunteer trip, and awareness about the types of products and services that Me to We offer has helped me to become a more caring, conscious, socially aware global citizen. It has helped me develop my values & priorities in life, and influences my daily habits & purchases. I am now in my final year of engineering at the University of Waterloo, and am looking forwards to the impact I can bring to the world with all of these experiences. If I ever make it big, Free The Children is one of the first charities I will be making a significant contribution to.
A Global Movement
A new generation of activists is growing. Less than a decade after the first We Day, it was in 14 cities in 3 countries. WE is active with sustainability & poverty relief in 8 countries, has build hundreds of schools, has helped kids volunteer 20+ million hours, has raised $62+ millions of dollars for 2500 local and global causes. Me to We is selling more products than ever before, both supporting WE and families from all over the world, while training the leaders of today, so that we have a better world tomorrow.
“Be the change you wish to see in this world”
— Mahatma Gandhi
Further Resources
The Making of We Day
There’s a lot that goes into the preparation of each We Day. If you’re interested in learning more about the event, check out this video:
