Amidst all of the star-studded action at Free the Children’s annual event, We Day, ub Toronto on September 20, there were several very important initiatives being launched and promoted. Free the Children co-founder Craig Kielburger was joined by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to officially kick off the “Year of Education,” a fundraising commitment to build 200 new schools in the charity’s overseas communities.
This year, Free the Children and RBC are bringing back their “We Create Change” campaign, which asked for your pennies last year as the Canadian penny was officially phased out. In order to raise money to build the new schools, all coin denominations will be accepted by RBC this 2013/2014 academic year in “We Create Change”-branded schoolhouse coin boxes and coin rollers. Once the schoolhouse coin box is filled, RBC asks that you roll your coins using the coin rollers and then drop them off at your nearest RBC branch. Every $20 in coins secures one brick for a school. An accumulated $10,000 will fund a new school or school room which will be the host to education which will be given to young students in these communities.
There are other ways you can participate in this “Year of Education.” You can buy a special ABC Education Rafiki Friend Chain, lovingly hand-beaded by a Maasai mama in Kenya. By purchasing one of the chains, which can be worn in several ways, you give one year of school supplies to one child.
Local youth are not the only ones answering this call for change. Singer Joe Jonas is personally getting involved with the “Year of Education.” Joe has an online page set-up where he asks his fans to help him open the doors to education and make a donation to The Jonas Brothers Change for the Children Foundation in support of Free the Children.
Joe traveled to Kenya with Free the Children in June and saw first-hand how their schools are bringing sustainable change to the Maasai Mara. He said, “When a child goes to school, they learn how to transform their life, their family and their entire community. But there are still millions of kids around the world who don’t have access to education. So it’s time to take action.”
Joe is not the only celebrity with one of these online pages. In fact, he is one of several celebrities who have taken the Celebrity School Challenge. Stars from DEGRASSI and last year’s We Day Toronto co-host, Nina Dobrev, are also fundraising and working to make a difference during the “Year of Education.”
Talking to the press at We Day Toronto, Craig Kielburger stressed the importance of education. He said, “In our organization, we very much believe that education is the course. With that education, young people are empowered to raise their voice.”
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf talked about her excitement to be attending We Day and said, “The many young people that I meet today will only give me added motivation and more inspiration to go back and work even harder so that each of our children get an education. Who knows, maybe some of them can come to We Day one day.”
To learn more about the “Year of Education” and to help your favourite celebrities raise money to build 200 new schools, visit http://www.freethechildren.com/get-involved/campaigns/schools/.