Picture the Future Campaign has taken off!

Photo Credit: Gilbert G. Groud, Wikimedia Commons

It’s the first week of collecting donation from our wonderful volunteers, and it is quite exciting to see all the support from the schools and youth we are receiving! Volunteers are asking friends, family, and individuals to take pictures with them, while fundraising to raise money to rehabilitate former child soldiers.

The tables have turned and it is a two school split in two months: John G. Diefenbaker and Lester B. Pearson go head to head again, a departure from Canadian politics, to race in a picture marathon where students are competing against the other to see which school raises the most money! While Diefenbaker and Pearson square off in March, Crescent Height and Sir Winston Churchill will be participating in full flight in April! Watch for more fundraising activites in April…rumour has it at performances.

To which ever school does best!  Expanding from the city wide high school competition, Lisa Bui (Co-Creator and Co-Organizer of Picture the Future Campaign) has rallied up her U of C colleagues for more support to this fundraiser!    

Good luck to all donation collectors and may the most creative and successful team win! Attend the event on Facebook!

Join the Movement! Picture the Future Campaign.

Craig Kielburger believes in “Education for All”

I was fortunate to have been able to attend one of his conferences at The University of Calgary, and I had a chance to catch him after his motivational speech of transforming our perspective from “Me” to “We”. The sign was rather a slapdash last minute idea, but he didn’t mind the unconventional sign- a sign is a sign in the end.  He politely nodded as I hurriedly explained our campaign with him, and his face lit up and was humbly surprised when I professed that after watching a video of him speaking for child rights at the age of 12, that he was one of my “sparks”, or one of the callings to social activism that brought me to action. He is an inspirational and internationally renown child rights activist, and was more than happy to take me up on my request! One of the most memorable moments of the conference was when he introduced the formula, “spark” + “gift” = A better world, indeed I believe that the calling that compels us to action and using our own talents to contribute, makes for a better world.

Craig Kielburger is the founder of the youth empowerment and child right’s organization, “Free the Children”, helping to develop and provide communities with access to healthcare, education, clean water and alternative incomes. He said at the conference to find a cause you are passionate about, and I have, with the Canadian Red Cross.

Craig Kielburger holding the sign, "I Believe in Education for All"