May 26th – A day to remember in Free The Children’s history

O Ambassadors at Prairie Vale in Oklahoma organized a raffle to support projects in Africa

May 26, 2008 will always be a day to remember for the Free The Children family. That was the day that the work of the organization was featured on more than six major media outlets across North America, not least of which was The Oprah Winfrey Show!  

The Oprah Winfrey Show aired a full-hour episode about the O Ambassadors program, a joint project of Free The Children and Oprah’s Angel Network. During the show, Oprah was surrounded by 330 O Ambassadors—students who are already creating ripples of change in their local and global community. An audience filled with passionate, globally-minded students no doubt demonstrated to all 44 million viewers that young people are committed to creating a better world. It clearly made an impact too: after the show, the O Ambassadors website received more than 8,000 hits per second!

Young people sell handmade jewellery to raise money for Adopt a Village

In addition to The Oprah Show, we received unbelievable national media coverage from outlets such as CBC, Canada AM, MTV, The National Post, The Toronto Star, The Vancouver Sun and more. And, earlier this month, our team along with 150 student leaders from across Toronto visited CTV’s  eTalk studios to film a one-hour interactive special with hosts Ben Mulroney and Tanya Kim. This special piece spotlights youth programming, National Me to We Day, Free The Children’s international projects, overseas volunteer trips and much more. Highlights include a visit from cast members of the Degrassi: The Next Generation who traveled to Kenya last summer, questions from students from around the world via webcam, and a surprise announcement that one of the audience members was one of three winners of the Trip Contest to Ecuador!

It’s not every day that Free The Children is featured on two hit shows and we marked the occasion with a big celebration at the office in Toronto. We were honoured by these opportunities, which showcased for the world the powerful, youth-led movement for global change that you are all part of. It was definitely a day to remember, with impacts that will be felt in the days and months to come!   

Free The Children is the largest network of children helping children through education in the world, with more than one million youth involved in our innovative education and development programs in 45 countries. Founded by international child rights activist Craig Kielburger, Free The Children has an established track-record of success, with three nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize and partnerships with the United Nations and Oprah’s Angel Network.