We Day extravaganza inspires students
Musicians, artists and celebrities take part in free event at Rogers Arena
The more than 20,000 B.C. students who took part in the seventh annual We Day event in Vancouver will be obvious at school today.
They are the ones with the hoarse voices after cheering and screaming for a wide array of musicians, artists and celebrities who took to the stage Wednesday at Rogers Arena.
The students were rewarded for their past year of community and global service with a free ticket to We Day: a fivehour extravaganza that included musical performances from the Barenaked Ladies, Colbie Caillat and Hedley, to name a few. They also had the opportunity to listen to motivational speakers like actor Henry Winkler, a.k.a. The Fonz from Happy Days, Oscarwinner Marlee Matlin and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.
“I hope everyone who leaves here today and who are watching the live web stream in school gyms will discover their cause today,” said Free The Children co-founder Craig Kielburger.
He and his brother Marc created the international charity for social change in 1995 and have been holding We Day, a youth empowerment event, in Canada since 2007.
Craig Kielburger, speaking during a press conference, cited corporate sponsors — this year it’s Royal Bank of Canada and Telus — as being necessary in order to make We Day a free event and to allow the organization to continue its fundraising campaigns and school speaking tours.
“Companies have a moral responsibility to engage in the communities where their workers are,” he said.
Also at the press conference was Canada’s first astronaut to walk in space. Hadfield said he and his wife had just moved back to this country after living in Russia when he was asked to be involved in We Day.
“It’s exactly what we wanted to be part of,” he said. “You come back from an experience like this (in space) eternally optimistic and realize the strength of the human spirit is a common denominator for everyone on the planet.”
One of the schools that received recognition during Wednesday’s event was West Vancouver’s Ridgeview elementary.
Grade 7 school teacher Cari Wilson said she has been taking students from her school’s We Day club every year since the event first came to Vancouver in 2009.
“It inspires me as much as the kids,” she said. “Teaching is a tough job and it can be thankless. Then you go to something like this and you realize how important education is and how much teachers make a difference.”
She said her students took part in fundraising campaigns throughout the year and were able to buy 44 goats for families living in Kenya. The goats cost $50 each and make a huge difference to the families, she said, by providing them with a nutritional source of milk and income for a sustainable future.
She said the students also contribute locally and raised $2,000 for the Terry Fox Foundation and $600 for Team Finn, an organization that supports childhood cancer research.
Student Emily Markwart, 17, from Surrey’s Clayton Heights secondary, said this is her second We Day event.
“One of the main drives for me is doing something to give back,” she said. “I love the ‘we and us’ thing. We have such a disconnected point of view, thinking all about our personal gains, but we are all on the same journey.”