Want to change the world? Adopt a Village!

St. Michael’s College held a walk-a-thon in May for Adopt a Village that rocked Toronto.

Heading back to school means it’s time to get back to basics—the basics of a healthy life for all children. Through Adopt a Village, you can provide the basic necessities of a healthy life for children in developing countries: clean water, a steady family income and education. Adopt a Village this fall and change the world!

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Adopt a Village is easy to start:

Through Adopt a Village, you can provide children in developing countries with clean water, a steady family income and education.

1. Gather a group of friends and classmates.
2. Choose one of the Adopt a Village projects that you want to raise awareness and money for: schoolbuilding, alternative income or clean water.
3. Register online! When you register, we’ll send you a campaign kit, including a wall-sized poster and a step-by-step guide.

The power of youth is unstoppable

Free The Children groups and young people rocked the world last year through the Adopt a Village campaign! Hundreds and hundreds of schools and groups joined together to reach our current total of development projects implemented and people impacted. Achievements include:

• More than 450 schools built, educating more than 40,000 children every day
• 132,000 people impacted by clean water and sanitation projects
• More than 22,500 women benefiting from alternative income projects
• $12 million CAD in essential medical supplies shipped to 40 countries

Jessica, who leads the Youth Programming Team, knows we will make big strides toward a better world this year.

Jessica is extremely excited for the upcoming year. Bouncing with excitement, she said, “There are so many ways for young people to get involved, stay connected and have their voice heard as a part of Free The Children. Youth are speaking out through the 24-hour Vow of Silence, making their voice heard on the Board of Directors and exchanging ideas on YouthZone Groups.”

You can truly change the world, and Jessica and her team of youth coordinators are always available to help.

Read Jessica’s blog
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Canvases for Kenya

On April 3, 2006, hundreds of people gathered in a Vancouver gymnasium for an evening of art and music to support children's education. This one evening raised enough money to change the lives of an entire school of Kenyan children and to unite their community.

The project began one night in November. Caitlin, a student at York House School, attended the YMCA Power of Peace Award Ceremony where Craig Kielburger gratefully received the award. The following day, one part of Craig’s acceptance speech kept running through Caitlin’s head: ”The cost of building a school in a developing country is less than the price of a car in North America.” Caitlin decided to take action and she set herself a goal: to build a school in Kenya through the Brick by Brick schoolbuilding project. 

101 canvases adorn the walls of a Vancouver gymnasium.

Caitlin wanted to hold a fundraiser—but not just any fundraiser. She wanted to get everyone actively involved. One hundred and one blank artist canvasses were donated to Caitlin, and she quickly came up with a brilliant idea. Caitlin distributed the canvasses to students (kindergarten through Grade 12), teachers, staff, parents and friends with only the following instructions: “Paint, collage or decorate your canvas in any which way, so long as it expresses what the theme ‘Loving to Learn’ means to you.”

On the evening of April 3, 101 beautifully, creatively and uniquely decorated canvases sat in a Vancouver gymnasium ready to help Caitlin achieve her goal. Each canvas was given to a member of the Vancouver community in exchange for a $100 donation. By the end of the night, Caitlin had raised over $11,000. Her goal of building a new school in Kenya was achieved, with enough to money raised to include furniture, textbooks, teacher’s lodging and salary! The Vancouver community truly united to provide the gift of education to the children of Kenya.

Fundraising ideas for school
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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.