User:Alexiusca/We Day

We Day' is an annual event organized by the Canadian charity Free The Children that, according to founder Craig Kielburger, is designed to “motivate young people to help fight injustice by convincing them that fighting injustice can be hip”

Background
We Day is an event hosted by Free The Children, a children’s charity founded in 1995 by child’s rights advocate Craig Kielburger. We Day was formed to “empower, educate, and above all, inspire.” The event features a lineup of social activists and speakers as well as musical performances. The event is the start of a year-long initiative encouraging students to participate in Free The Children’s campaigns to raise awareness and funds for local and international projects.

We Day 2009
For We Day 2009, Free The Children held two separate events. On September 29, 2009 16,000 students attended We Day in Vancouver to hear speakers including the Dalai Lama, Dr. Jane Goodall and Mia Farrow. Performers included K’naan, Sarah McLachlan and Jason Mraz.

The Dalai Lama spoke to the crowd about making the 21st century one of peace. He said, “Peace does not mean no longer any problem, no longer conflict. Some form of differences, some form of conflict, (is) always there…Now peace means when there is possibility of conflict or violence, using our common sense and. . . compassion.”

On October 3, 2009, another 16,000 students attended We Day Toronto. Speakers included holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike “Pinball Clemons,” former Prime Minister Paul Martin and founder of Participant Media Jeff Skoll. Performers include Justin Bieber and Hedley.

The event also included a surprise performance by the Jonas Brothers. The brothers initially appeared on a taped message broadcast throughout the stadium before they stepped out on stage to perform a two-song set.

Both events were carried by CTV on live webcast. The broadcaster also aired a two-hour highlight special on October 10, 2009.

The 2009 Free The Children initiative introduced at We Day is called the 10 by 10 Challenge. The initiative aims to have student raise $10 and log 10 volunteer hours. This will help raise funds to fully develop 10 villages located in Africa, South America and Asia. The Kielburgers estimated at the day this program will impact 100,000 people.

We Day 2008
Free The Children’s second We Day took place on October 17, 2008 at Toronto’s Ricoh Coliseum. It involved more than 8,000 students in grades 7 to 12 representing 600 schools and 40 school boards.

The event was hosted by Ben Mulroney and Tanya Kim of eTalk. Speakers for the day included Craig Kielburger, Marc Kielburger, Mia Farrow, Justin Trudeau, celebrity designer Nate Berkus, Jessi Cruickshank, the cast of Degrassi: The Next Generation, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and former Prime Minister of Canada John Turner.

Performers included Sarah McLachan, Crash Parallel, the Canadian Tenors and Canadian Idol winner Theo Thames. A live webcast of the event and a one-hour special was carried by CTV.

Participants were asked to take part in the 100-School Challenge, a fundraising that challenged students to raise enough funds to help Free The Children build 100 schools in the developing world.

We Day 2007
The first We Day took place on October 19, 2007 at Toronto’s Ricoh Coliseum and involved more than 7,500 youth. The participants were grade 7 or 10 students from more than 500 schools in the Greater Toronto Area.

Speakers at the event included Justin Trudeau, Senator Romeo Dallaire, Irshad Manji, Jessi Cruikshank and Olympic swimmer Mark Tewksbury. Performers include Canadian Idol winner Brian Melo and Hanson. The event was broadcast across Canada via a live webcast produced by MTV.

Attendance
We Day is a free event for all students. To earn entry, schools must pledge one local and one international difference-making effort to pursue over the school year. Free The Children has tracked their efforts. By 2009, students had pledged over $5 million dollars to local, national and international charities and donated over 150,000 volunteer hours.