More than 40,000 people expected for WE Day
Family event, inspirational speakers to help mark 10th year in Vancouver
When Jason Cao was a child, he would run free in his neighbourhood, playing with friends. These days, he rarely speaks to his neighbours in Renfrew Heights.
But a project, inspired by a WE Day workshop Cao attended with his wife and two kids in July, is changing that.
The family recently built a mini-library out of a used breadbox, then filled it with some of their favourite books, encouraging their neighbours to help themselves to one and leave another for someone else.
“While I’m mowing the lawn, neighbours come up and ask me about it. It’s been a chance for everyone to get to know each other,” said Cao.
The family will be attending the first WE Day Family event at Rogers Arena on Wednesday evening, along with about 20,000 others interested in making a difference at home and around the world.
“We’ve had it on the calendar for quite a while,” said Cao.
“My father passed on a philosophy to me that even the smallest pebble can make ripples that spread out. I want to pass that on to my kids.”
WE Day Family will also be a chance for some of the students who have participated in WE Day in the past to share the experience with their family, said regional director Bryanna Baker.
Some families, like the Caos, earned their tickets by doing service projects over the past year, while other families will be experiencing WE for the first time.
The family event happens the evening before Thursday’s annual WE Day event, which will be attended by 20,000 students from across B.C. who also earned their tickets by committing to do projects through their schools.
A lineup of inspirational speakers, including WE founders Craig and Marc Kielburger, co-hosts Jessi Cruickshank and Drew Scott, as well as Lights, Sarah McLachlan, Peter Mansbridge, Jacob and Jason Tremblay and Margaret Trudeau, will encourage attendees to find service projects that align with their interests to make a difference in their communities and around the world.
The Christensen family will also be speaking at the Wednesday evening family event.
After losing their six-year-old son Jonah to an unforeseen medical condition 10 years ago, the Vancouver family created an annual celebration around his birthday, June 19.
The fundraiser, called A Magical Evening, raises money each year for a different children’s charity, including WE.
One year, they raised money for a school in Kenya through a WE Villages project.
“Jonah was a big animal lover and he was fascinated by Africa,” said Emma Christensen.
“He loved all the big mammals. Lions, elephants — he talked and acted and imagined them.”
Jeff Christensen recalls coming home one day to find his son had decided to “expand” his imaginary zoo by punching a hole in the wall with this play tools. The family, Jeff, Emma and daughter Hannah, were recently able to travel to Africa to see the school.
“None of this was the plan,” Jeff Christensen said about life without his son.
“But I feel proud that we’re doing this to remember him.”
Emma Christensen said that while each member of their family has responded to Jonah’s loss in a different way, they’ve found power in remembering him by giving back to their community as a family.
This year marks the 10-year anniversary of WE Day in Vancouver.
The city was the second city to host WE Day in 2009, following the event’s success in Toronto.
Since then it has expanded, hosting 19 stadium-sized events in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and the Caribbean this year alone.
“Vancouver pulled us in,” founder Craig Kielburger said when asked why he chose to bring WE Day to the city 10 years ago.
“It wasn’t so much a choice. People said we want this here. We’ll make it happen.”
Ten years since the first Vancouver event, it’s exciting to see the legacy of past attendees who now work in education, non-profit and public service, he said.
“It’s something we never imagined 10 years ago.”
After more than a decade, Kielburger’s perspective has also changed.
A middle-schooler when he began what would later become Free the Children, and now WE, Kielburger has since become a father himself.
“I see it through the lens of a parent,” he said, explaining that he wants his son to value compassion and service and make them a part of his life.
Vancouver pulled us in. It wasn’t so much a choice. People said we want this here. We’ll make it happen.