Six Battleford schools from two divisions plan to attend We Day events in Calgary and Saskatoon, and they are holding a fundraiser to help them do so.
We Day is a series of annual events put on by Free the Children, a charity founded by Marc and Craig Kielburger. Based on teaching children that it is "cool to care," the events encourage participants to find their passion for making a difference and embrace it. Celebrities and world figures from Jane Goodall to Shaq and K'Naan have spoken at events, with Calgary's We Day featuring Mikhail Gorbachev, Rick Hansen, Lights and Hedley.
St. Vital School students had been to Winnipeg's We Day event in 2011, and were guaranteed a spot at this year's event after a photo of them won the "We Schools" photo contest. Featuring six Sakewew students, the photo was from the "It's Cool to Care" school event.
In the photo, students portrayed Joseph Brant, David Courchene Jr., Jean Cuthand, Tom Longboat, River Cote and Shayna Paul. River and Shayna were Saskatchewan aboriginal teens who participated in the 7000 Generations walk, a 850 km walk from Pinehouse to the parliament buildings in Regina to protest a proposed nuclear waste site near Pinehouse.
This year, Battleford Central, McKitrick, North Battleford Comprehensive High S, Notre Dame and John Paul II school are all sending groups to Calgary's We day.
Battleford residents may be familiar with Free the Children - Craig and Marc Kielburger regularly write for the Globe and Mail and have appeared on Oprah and other major television shows.
Kielburger was recently in the Battlefords, to speak at the United Way Gala that took place at the Dekker Centre Sept. 13. The two are celebrities in the world of charity, having founded their own organization when they were just children themselves. They have since founded Me to We and put on the yearly We Day events that attract over 100,000 attendees. Schools are given tickets to We Day events on the basis of their charitable work, but they do have to pay for transportation.
To fundraise for the event, the six schools are collaboratively holding a garage sale in the McKitrick School gym Sept. 29. The event will run from 8 a.m. into the early afternoon.
Kelly Waters, a teacher at St. Vital who has been involved in We Day-related events and attended the 2011 event, encourages people to come to the garage sale, as purchases will contribute to "laying the foundation for developing fair-minded future community leaders."
