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About
Power Unit Youth Organization (PUYO) is a Toronto-based non-profit run by youths, who range from high school students to recent university graduates. The organization’s mission is “to instill a sense of empowerment in youths and to encourage a habit of giving back. By organizing philanthropic projects, youth are given the opportunity to grow, to self-explore and to be part of something bigger than themselves”. Founded in 2002, the organization has grown from a small group of university students to over 170 youth from across the GTA.

PUYO has three core values: youth development, empowerment, and philanthropy. The organization instills these values in their three objectives:
 * 1) To provide development and training for youth
 * 2) To create opportunities for empowering youth
 * 3) To foster philanthropy and community service

These objectives are achieved through PUYO’s three projects: Night It Up!, Paint-A-Thon, and the E3 Challenge.

Night It Up!
Night It Up!, formerly known as Toronto Night Market, is PUYO’s flagship project and Toronto’s first night market. This three-day celebration of Asian food, music, and culture attracts over 120,000 people annually. Every year, Night It Up! raises money for a beneficiary; to date, the event has raised over $105,000 for various charities and causes.

The event features over 100 vendors of food and merchandise, performances from local talents, and other attractions added throughout the years.

The largest attraction for visitors is the abundance of Asian street food, such as skewers, takoyaki, and the infamous stinky tofu (the unofficial national snack food of Taiwan). About 60% of the vendors at Night It Up! sell food or drinks. Throughout the years, the event has added more food variety, including oyster omelettes, tornado potatoes, and Japanese hot dogs.

The stage runs from the evening to the closing of the event each day. It features multicultural performances from local bands, singers, and dance groups. Occasionally, sponsors may run events on the stage (e.g., eating contests, giveaways, etc.). On Friday, the first day of the event, the stage hosts the Opening Ceremonies, where various politicians and the mayor of Markham come to officially announce the starting of the event. At the end of each night, the PUYO Rock Band, a band consisting of PUYO members, is the last to perform before the stage and the event closes.

Throughout the years, Night It Up! has added more attractions such as a sports zone, an outdoor movie theatre, and free photo booths. The sports zone is run by the Chinese Canadian Youth Athletics Association (CCYAA), and it features live volleyball, basketball, field hockey, and darts games, as well a stage to commentate on major games. The outdoor movie theatre, in partnership with Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, usually runs on Saturday night, featuring various Asian movies.

Paint-A-Thon
Started in the summer of 2010, Paint-A-Thon is an event that aims to bring the community together through art. Specifically, 10-15 teams of 3-6 people paint on cubix structures (giant cubes with canvases as their surface) “to depict visual images that resonates with our chosen beneficiary”. Paint-A-Thon happens on the Saturday of Night It Up! in the parking lot behind Night It Up!’s stage.

The E3 Challenge
PUYO describes the E3 Challenge as “modeled after The Apprentice” reality show, the E3 Challenge is a summer business competition that consists of three challenges in which teams compete against each other throughout June to late August”. The E3 Challenge recruits around 25-30 participants aged 16-20. Participants are provided with mentors, workshops, and seminars to help and to educate them throughout the six weeks.

The first challenge has traditionally always been running a game booth at Night It Up! . This challenge involves creating a business proposal, securing sponsorships, and executing the plan at Night It Up!, where each team competes to have the highest sales. The second and third challenges are sponsored by different companies (called event partners) that vary each year; past event partners include Microsoft, Proctor & Gamble, ING Direct, and Tim Hortons. These challenges usually involve solving a problem for an event partner; each team presents their solution in front of company executives and compete to be chosen for the best solution.

At the end of the three challenges, the organizers of the E3 Challenge choose the team with the highest overall score to be the overall winner amongst the three challenges. The winning team typically receives a cash prize ranging from $1000 to $2000 for the team.