Students from Langdale Elementary School are changing the world, literally. Last Thursday, they joined about 10,000 other students in Vancouver to celebrate We Day.
We Day started in 2007, but its predecessor, Me to We, and its predecessor, Free the Children, started in 1982 by Craig Kielburger. Since then more than $105 million has been raised for local and global organizations. More than 12 million pounds has been collected for local food banks and more than 36 million volunteer hours have been logged.
We Day is a gathering organized by We Charity to celebrate work done by thousands of volunteers through various We events. More than 200,000 students in Canada, the U.K., the U.S. and the Caribbean are involved in We Day activities. The program shows young people how they can contribute and make a difference to their own communities and to the world at large.
Langdale students have done fundraisers that benefit the local food banks and the Cancer Society, and internationally they have raised funds to help with education in Kenya and in Haiti.
“We’re trying to help change the world,” said Willow Carriere.
“If you want to see change you have to take action because without action, nothing is going to get done,” Lyric Moysey-Ruben added.
Their teacher, Jane Ostashek, decided to involve her students in We events “because I wanted them to be inspired, to be kind and courageous. I wanted them to be positive global citizens and role models, to realize there is a world outside our own community,” she said.
The We Charity has identified five main initiatives that money is raised for in an effort to break the cycle of poverty: health, water, food, education and opportunity. Ostashek encouraged her students to decide on the type of fundraising they would like to do and the countries they would like their efforts to go towards.
“The whole class was stuck between Kenya and Haiti. We couldn’t decide between the two,” Willow said, so the class chose to send help to both countries. “We also had pen pals from Kenya,” Arianna Melville added. Ryan Cole said they also wanted to help people in Haiti, “because they just had a hurricane and then were hit by a massive earthquake and they weren’t rich anyway; they were already living in poverty,” he said.
Arianna said now that the students are involved in campaigns to help these two countries, “you become emotionally attached and want to know what’s happening” in those countries.
The students chose to support education with their fundraising. Last year they raised more than $1,000. Students don’t get details on what is specifically being done with the money they raise, but they do get general reports on the projects being done in each country in their chosen field of fundraising. Ostashek said “they have learned that one person can make a difference and that they can change the world.”
“I tell them this isn’t about fundraising, it’s about being kind. I am so proud of each and every one of them,” she said.
Rory Scott said the class learned about Kenya through current events and “we found out about kids who went to school, they have to pay to go.” Ryan added, “They are very poor and go to school in a wooden building they share with other people, 90 students in a Grade 1 class.”
Willow said “we hope the money goes towards a new school, or a teacher’s salary.”
Margot Whyard said, “For me, you’re not there, so you don’t know what’s happening, but you trust the organization, that they are doing these things to help.”
Rory likes the fact that funds go towards teaching people rather than just sending money. “The We Charity goes there and makes wells and teaches people how to fix them and they show them how to grow their own food,” he said.
Prior to We Day, Langdale students were excited about the opportunity to listen to We Charity founders Marc and Craig Kielburger and about the line-up of guests including: Grace Vanderwaal, last year’s winner of America’s Got Talent, and recording artists and Juno Award winners Hedley. Following the event, Ostashek said the students were “definitely inspired by so many of the speakers at We Day.”
“They liked to hear what other students have done to help stop bullying, to raise money for clean water and to help with building schools in Third World countries,” Ostashek said.
Along with the motivational speakers and entertainers, the students also “loved getting to participate in the wave and the We Day dance and other interactive parts of the day,” Ostashek said.
This is the fourth year the students of Langdale have earned an invitation to the We Day event. They seem pretty proud of the fact that tickets are not sold to the event, but rather, students earn an invitation. “You can’t buy a ticket, you have to earn it by doing different activities and spreading kindness. It doesn’t have to be a contribution of money, you just need to make the world a better place,” Ben Walker said.
