She’s an 11-year-old Canadian blogger, change maker, eco-warrior, and a motivational speaker for We Day and Me to We – call her Hannah Alper! Hannah, who has her own blog called Call Me Hannah (www.callmehannah.ca), most recently spoke at Free the Children’s annual We Day in Toronto on October 2.
THE MAGAZINE caught up with Hannah just before she hit the We Day stage to chat about eco-friendly cleaning supplies, her blog and R5.
What inspired you to start working with Free the Children?
My Mom and I were looking online for eco-friendly cleaning supplies. We found out that Marc Kielburger, the co-founder of Free the Children, made eco-friendly cleaning supplies when he was in grade 7 and he became really successful with it. I clicked the links on the website and that’s how I found out about Free the Children. I researched it and I found out about Craig and just how awesome they are. They are helping people in other countries, as well as Canada and North America because they are inspiring people to be compassionate about issues that are important in the world.
You are very tech savvy. How do you use your blog, Call Me Hannah, to support Free the Children?
I blog a LOT about Free the Children, their new initiatives and We Day. I always post the new We Day lineups because they’re important to me. I feel like technology, especially blogging, is such a good way to share your passions, and that’s what I do. Twenty years ago you couldn’t really have a blog and there was no YouTube to help spread your message, but now there is, so this is the time.
How do you plan on continuing to support Free the Children in the future?
Hopefully I can keep speaking at We Day! I’m a Me to We speaker, so I speak at all different kinds of events. Also, I’m just going to keep supporting them by sharing them on my blog. They are so inspiring because they are inspiring other youth to keep believing and to find an issue that they care about.
How has We Day impacted or changed you?
We Day has inspired me because when I went to my first We Day in 2012, I realized that I wasn’t alone. I looked around the stadium in Waterloo and I said, “Wow, that’s a lot of people!” There were so many people who had made a difference in their community and We Day is all about celebrating the impacts that people have made. I think that it just shows me that we’re not alone and that we have a community right here at We Day.
What has been your favourite part of We Day today?
That’s hard! I really liked seeing Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan and Joe Jonas. I took a selfie with Joe. What I’m hoping to do is see R5. They’re my favourite band here. I love their song “Pass Me By”. Also, Hedley is great. I love Hedley.
Thank you, Hannah! After our interview, Hannah actually met up with R5 and snapped this selfie with Riker Lynch!
Check out Hannah’s blogs about Free the Children and more on www.callmehannah.ca.