Hi, our names are Kristina and Taylor and we’re members of the Allenby Free the Children group. We’re here to tell you about our experiences.
On September 27, 2011, eleven students from Allenby attended We Day, we were two of them! We Day is a day full of inspirational speeches and stories, empowering messages and performances by celebrities such as Marc and Craig Kielburger the founders, Joe Jonas, Classified, Nelly Furtado, and Shawn Desmond. That one day has made a HUGE difference in our way of thinking and being. That day no doubt has changed us forever and as Craig Keilburger said, “We Day is not just a day, it is a movement”.
A young woman from Free the Children came to Allenby and spoke to us about five places in the world where people live in challenging conditions. They live in countries with no clean water and shortage of medical supplies and assistance. Children are forced to work at a young age and live in poverty. Our adopted village is Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone is located in West Africa and is the 2nd poorest country in the world. After we heard this, we immediately wanted to help. This year, Allenby has raised over $10,000 for clean water and medical supplies and assistance. With that money, we have built a water well close to home so girls don’t have to walk two hours to get a dirty bucket of water. Now they only walk two minutes for a clean bucket of water. Also this will allow girls to use their time to get an education. How did we raise all this money? The Dance-A-Thon.
We had a lot of fun making posters, writing announcements and going to classes to make the students and staff at Allenby aware of the situation in Sierra Leone and how we could help them. We raised enough money to make a difference. Through the Dance-A-thon we helped sell glow accessories. The money raised from the glow bracelets, ears, batons and rings all went to TFSS (Toronto Foundation for Student Success). TFSS (Toronto Foundation for Student Success) is an organization that gives needy students in Toronto breakfast and snacks when they can’t afford it. We have raised over $1000 for them! This experience made our Free the Children team very pleased with what we had accomplished with Sierra Leone and TFSS.
We didn’t just help Sierra Leone this year; we also spearheaded the Secret Santa drive. Secret Santa is a program that allows you to adopt a family that is in need and give them a wonderful holiday season by providing them with gifts and food. Each class had a family that they raised money for in order to give them a happy, well fed holiday season. Our school helped twenty-two families in Toronto.
Free the Children is one of the best things we’ve ever done. This experience has changed our lives forever. Even though next year our new school that we are going to does not have a Free the Children group, we will still join online to keep helping these underdeveloped counties and its people. We had a lot of fun with Free the Children. We would like to thank Mrs. Levitt and Mrs. Segal for all their time and effort to help make this organization possible for our school. Without their help and support this would not have been possible. We would also like to thank you for your donations and support.
Kristina Matovich & Taylor Clapham