My 8 year old daughter has a heart for others. She is always looking for the next opportunity to volunteer or help out the less fortunate, so when I had the opportunity to have her attend We Day Manitoba with me on October 30th, I couldn’t pass it up.
I wanted to take the opportunity to spend some quality time with my daughter to make this event one she would always remember. The night before We Day, we stayed at the Fairmont hotel. We enjoyed swimming together, laying on the bed laughing, getting cookies and milk delivered to our room and taking time to talk and reflect on how blessed we are to live in the country we do. As we were laying on the bed eating late night snacks my daughter said how she wished every kid could have a night like we were having. It almost made me tear up to see how during our fun evening she was thinking about how it our mother-daughter night was a special thing that many children will not have the opportunity to do in their lifetime. We fell asleep talking about all the ways we could make a difference in the world we live in.
We Day Manitoba was before us. We sat in the Telus suite watching all the seats fill up. 16,000 students from more than 380 schools soon filled the seats of the MTS centre – Kate could not believe how many kids were there. She had a huge smile and said that she was so happy that so many kids have a desire to change the world, just like she does. Isn’t that an incredible?! I sure think so – it brings a smile to my lips just thinking about it.
We sat together and soaked in the experience, we learned the WeDay dance, we sang, we wiped tears, we were inspired, we were amazed, we clapped, we cheered – we had a great time.
Although 8 year old Kate got to meet her blogging hero, 10 year old Hannah, from Call Me Hannah, and other amazing people such as Craig Kielburger – c0-founder of Free The Children, Martin Sheen-Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor and activist, the band Neverest & so many more, the thing she talks about most is how she is just so happy to know that there are others who care a lot about the world. I’m so proud of my girl.
There are so many things I could write about We Day, but the truth of the matter is that seeing my 8 year old in her element, knowing that she will, without a doubt, make a difference in our world was the best take-away for me. Thanks so much to Telus for providing the opportunity for us.
Do you have a question for Kate or myself about our We Day experience? Feel free to ask.
Kate has a question for you, How old were you when you wanted to start making a difference in the world?
———————————————————————————————————————————-
I was happy to meet Evan, @ev_freeze and Shonah, @ShonahR who were the winners of the #EarnYourWay program. It was great to hear about how excited they are to be making a difference in their schools. In order to be entered to win kids could share what one little thing they do to make a difference and the winners would get to bring a friend to We Day, VIP style, as part of the TE LUS Crew! You can read more about the program at TELUSforWeDay.com.
About We Day
1. We Day inspires a generation to act.2. We Day is an initiative of Free The Children, an international charity and educational partner, with an 18-year history of youth engagement.3. We Day is a stadium-sized educational event and the movement of our time—a movement of young people leading local and global change.4. We Day connects world-renowned speakers and performers with thousands of elementary and secondary school students and educators in an inspirational setting to learn about some of the most pressing local and global issues. Past participants include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Martin Sheen, Jennifer Hudson, Demi Lovato, the Jonas Brothers and many others.5. Students can’t buy a ticket to We Day, they earn it through service; by making a commitment to take action on at least one local and one global initiative of their choice as part of the year-long educational program called We Act.6. The We Act program supports students and educators with free educational resources, student-led campaigns and support materials to help turn the inspiration from We Day into sustained activation. The program enhances a school’s existing service learning initiatives or sparks new ones.7. Together We Day and We Act provide a blueprint for raising a generation of active local and global citizens.8. We Day is one of the world’s largest charitable causes on Facebook with more than 3.3 million fans.9.Since 2007, youth involved in We Act have achieved remarkable social change results: $37 million raised for more than 1,000 local and global causes, 9.6 million hours volunteered for local and global causes, 4 million lbs of food collected for local food banks, 7.5 million hours of silence logged by youth who stood up for children in developing communities silenced by poverty and exploitation.10. We Day inspires, engages and empowers youth to lead through service, building compassionate communities and transforming participants into active global citizens in the process. Independent third-party research by U.S.-based social impact consulting firm Mission Measurement has proven that We Day and the accompanying year-long We Act program generate powerful behavioral impacts. To name a few: 98 per cent of participating youth believe they can make a difference following their We Day attendance, 80 per cent of We Act alumni report volunteering more than 150 hours each year, 79 per cent of voting age We Act alumni report voting in the previous national election.
Another thing – check out the We365 App at www.we365.com, it’s the first app of it’s kind that helps young people build a better world every day of the year. It’s even safe for kids under 13, so check it out.
GIVEAWAY MOMENT:
One lucky Canadian Mommy Moment reader will win a Blackberry Q5 valued at $425.
**due to the value of this giveaway, this giveaway was not open to residents of Quebec due to the regulations of that province**
To enter to win, leave a blog post comment telling me why you want to win this Blackberry Q5 as well as something you know or have learned about We Day.
michelle b
Sunday 24th of November 2013
I would love to win this for my oldest to use. I learnt that we day has many speakers about a range of topics helping the world and you may not buy tickets to go to this event
melisa vallier
Sunday 24th of November 2013
My 12 year old attended in Vancouver, she came home with some great ideas. Wonderful experience that I wish I had when I was young. We are planing to adopt a veteran at Christmas.
Michelle Prent
Sunday 24th of November 2013
I would love to win this phone, as my 'tab' is just about to be paid off, then I can give my current Blackberry 8530 to my Daughter who lives out of town with my 1 year old Grandson, so we can keep in touch more often, especially when she has those 'Mommy' questions. And I could use the new one to keep in contact with all 3 of my kids. I have also learned that these young people have raised $37 million for more than 1,000 local and global causes, that's amazing for such young ages! And the 9.6 million hours volunteered for the local and global causes they have put in! That's the way we'd all love to see our children spend their time. Productively, yet helping to make their world a better place. Also how children have been able to collect 4 million lbs of food for local food banks is incredible. These are our children! They are the future, and we should all be so proud of what they have accomplished for 'others'! My kids are adults now just in the past few years, but sure hope to get our Grandkids involved as they get a little older!
Sarah @ Living As We
Sunday 24th of November 2013
I would love to win because Blackberry has always been a good brand of phone for me. I learned that We day is such a great way of getting the youth involved, and letting them know that they can make a difference!
ami b
Sunday 24th of November 2013
I hadnt heard of this before reading your blog but I think its a wonderful idea. I have two little ones myself and my Noah is only seven, but I call him my little gentle soul. He holds doord open for people and qould do anything to help someone. I find this so important for kids to not only help others but to truly believe that they can be that domino that sets the change in motion. If I won the prize...im sure it would have apps from my two monkeys on there in 3.1 seconds flat! Thanks for the chance!