Reaching Out To Others
What are "Kids Who Care"™ accomplishments to date?
Do you wonder what a group of kids can do? Accomplishments listed here are of the original "pioneer" group encouraged by a York Region District school board teacher who has been promoting positive student leadership since 1990. Our student members are based in Richmond Hill, Unionville and Markham, Ontario, Canada. Our 1998-1999 headquarters are currently at Markham District High School in Markham. For October 23, 1999, we subsidized the visit of an Ojibway elder who spent a day in the Drama Room giving First Nations teachings to students from Markham District High School. For October 30, 1999, we are raffling off an edible Hallowe'en house valued at $40.00 to support the Markham Pregnancy Crisis Centre and our two adopted children in Guatemala. Two local stores on Main Street Unionville , Olde Unionville Jewellers and the Backyard Naturalist as well as the Markham Pregnancy Crisis Centre itself, are selling raffle tickets support of our initiatives. Going back historically, to include our precursors, "Dancers for Harmony" who began at Doncrest Public School in Richmond Hill, we are proud of:
discreetly supporting a single, homeless father and his children by providing food for a two week period
doing fundraising to pay for our own dance regalia
presenting dances, songs and poems promoting racial and environmental harmony in over forty-seven different settings all over Ontario. Among them are places such as Toronto's Harbourfront, the Metro Toronto Civic Centre in downtown Toronto, the Earth Day sunrise ceremony at the Markham Civic Centre , joining in the friendship dance at a Curve Lake First Nation Pow Wow near Peterborough, the Alderville Pow Wow and annual participation in the teaching pow wow at Sutton District High School (York District School Board) near Georgina Island.
hand-sewing a eighty-four cloth giftbags with contents valuing approximately $300 to $400 eachover a two year period and filling them with toiletry items, books and goodies for battered moms and their kids at special times of the year like Christmas and Valentine's day
fundraising in 1994-1995, under the direction of Cindy Nadler, 8B Popcorn Company President at Doncrest Public School and active "Dancer for Harmony" cloth gift bag "seamstress" overseeing a production team working away in the family studies room in fervent preparation for a caravan visit to Sandgate Women's Shelter. A huge item purchased for donation to Doncrest Public School, by the student group, was a Panasonic Palmcorder, Model PV1Q204k through the board-approved company Nationwide Electronic. Upon this item, students placed an engraved brass identification plate so that all who followed would know they had contributed to their school. As well, the students purchased a carrying case and two batteries. All these young 8B entrepreneurs,in the class of Mme D., our "guide on the side", were also members of "Dancers for Harmony" Community Outreach, our precursors. They grew out of "Doncrest Dancers for Race Relations", "Doncrest Dancers for the Environment" and "Doncrest Dancers for Harmony" all guided by Mme D. Cindy and her team got up at 6:30 a.m. several times a week to produce the multiflavoured popcorn that was then sold by teams to the community at lunchtimes twice a week. Cindy has now been accepted into university to study business. Congratulations Cindy! Under her guidance, the group contributed significantly to the school community through the year.
raising $1000 to support a single widowed mom supporting five children of her own and nineteen others in Uganda
supporting orphans in Rwanda in the aftermath of the civil war through the "Friends of Rwanda" program
raising $1000 towards the construction of the Frederick Horsman Varley Art Gallery of Markham
donating money and goods towards Yellow Brick House women's shelter in Aurora and Rose of Sharon centre for young mothers and their children in Newmarket
fundraising to cover the costs of special First Nations Elders as guest speakers to give teachings of the grandfathers and of the Medecine Wheel
becoming members of Craig Kielberger's "Free the Children" movement, purchasing a cow for a family in Kenya and helping to host a "Free the Children" conference at William Berczy P.S. in 1998
successfully spearheading a campaign in 1998 to collect three hundred pairs of eyeglasses as part of the "Gift of Sight" campaign, collaborating with Lenscrafters
donating money and goods totalling thousands of dollars in value, every year since 1993 in support of Sandgate Women's Shelter , making five visits a year
donating money and goods towards the Markham Pregnancy Crisis Centre since 1997, making several visits a year
networking with the business community in many ways to invite guest speakers to present on various topics dealing with leadership, environmental and social issues
attending leadership training sessions and young entrepreneur conferences available through the business community in the GTA
presenting workshops to teachers at OISE and conferences such as the "Together We're Better" conference
seeking and obtaining support from the business community for fundraisers supporting identified social causes
manufacturing five edible "houses" to mark Valentine's Day, Hallowe'en and Christmas since 1997
supporting William Berczy Public School Student Council initiatives involving community outreach and delivery of collected foodstuffs and clothing to those in need
orchestrating regular raffles and silent auctions of our homemade edible houses and consolation prizes donated by local businesses to raise funds for worthy causes
attending the "Mandela and the Children" special event featuring Nelson Mandela himself, who fought so hard against apartheid, at the Toronto SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Friday, September 25, 1998 at 10:00 a.m. were over thirty members of "Kids Who Care" and a hundred and ten students from our host school, William Berczy Public School. The Skydome was filled with thousands of children and their teachers - many busloads of "souls." Nelson Mandela's speech validated what we do.It was very exciting for all of us to attend this first-time ever historical event. On April 10, 1999 a teacher from our school left for South Africa with a small delegation of Canadians. A letter from us giving an idea of the activities of our organization will be shared with Nelson Mandella at a specially arranged "tea" during this journey. We hope to have "Kids WHo Care" members in South Africa now too.
working with our "Learning Partnership"partners, for our second year, who are the local Bank of Montreal at 101 Carlton next to our "headquarters", we applaud this institution for independently hosting their first annual "Kids Who Care" month raffle in October, 1998 on our behalf during the teachers' strike in York Region. Continuing "off campus" without the support of our teacher "guide on the side" who was on work to rule or out on the picket line, student representatives from our organization were interviewed and appeared together in the "Markham Month Magazine". It felt great to be validated. We realize that our partners' input exceeded output given the circumstances at that time. We are very thankful for their support in tough times.
helping plan the structure of major school assemblies such as "Remembrance Day"
promoting school involvement in Remembrance Day, Holocaust Education, Black History Month, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21st, First Nations Awareness Week and Canada Day
promoting the use of student voice by actively engaging in public speaking and debating through various service groups beyond the school such as the Royal Canadian Legion, the Optimist Club, the Lion's Club and the Ontario Junior Debating Association
"adopting" Miguel and Brenda , two Spanish-speaking children living in poverty in the aftermath of hurricane-torn Guatemala through World Vision in December, 1998. We have committed to supporting these children right through to the end of their secondary school studies.
Where do we go from here? What new horizons do we approach?
In our growth as an organization, we are always looking for new opportunities to make a difference in other people's lives:
in April, 1999, in support of "Kids Can Free the Children" and "World Vision" initiatives, we are currently collecting money and donations of items for Health Kits to be sent to children in refugee camps in Kosovo and around the world to help meet basic needs.
Do you want more information? Have you collected merchandise that you would like to have picked up for you? Call our friends at "Kids Can Free the Children". Telephone: (905) 760-9382 or (905) 760-9322 Fax: (905) 760-9157. Charitable tax receipts will be issued by them for all cash donations over $10.00. "Kids Can Free The Children's Charitable No. is 88657 8095 RR0001. If you live in the Unionville/Markham area, you may drop donations off at the front foyer of William Berczy Public School, located at 120 Carlton Road.
What are we collecting for traumatized refugee children? We are looking for stuffed animals in good condition for them to hug. We are putting together Health Kits which include: 1 hand towel, 1 comb/brush, 1 toothbrush, 1 small box of bandages, 1 washcloth, 1 bar of soap, 1 tube of toothpaste (medium size), 1 nail file or nail clipper. We are also looking for disposable diapers, sleepers, formula, plastic bottles, receiving blankets and skin products to help protect tiny baby bottoms. We extend a special thanks to the students in the grade seven homeroom class of T. Kowlessar who have worked particularly hard in support of this outreach initiative. To you, quoting from Ralph Waldo Emerson, we say: "Success is [...]to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."
As the initial "Kids Who Care" cluster, we are have already made great strides in expanding our sphere of influence well beyond our six local York Region District School Board communities in Ontario. Locally, we have reached out on many levels using all available media including newspapers, magazines, television and the Internet. We are learning how to do multimedia presentations for large groups using Microsoft Suite 8.0. At this time, although many of our members are now in high school, and stepping foot into university, we still appreciate guidance and support from informed adults. Also those who are now becoming university-level adults will always be "Kids Who Care" at heart for we carry the loving inner child within us always.
Our "soon-to-be bilingual" Web Site which is welcoming the addition of French, addresses our common goal to "spread peace throughout the world via the internet". Some of our members speak only Inuit and French. By the end of this school year, we hope to have a fully bilingual French and English site. By 2003 we hope to be trilingual, including Spanish as well, to include our members south of the border right down to the tip of South America.
As our knowledge and understanding of the world evolve, so does our grasp of the power of language. Our updated vision statement as printed on our new business cards: "Unity in solidarity, serving those in need", was changed in February, 1998 from our original 1997 slogan "serving the less fortunate" which to us now seems pejorative. After all, by what criteria do we judge who is fortunate and who is not? We view ourselves as authentic role models who encouraging others to contribute positively to the global world community. We invite you to join us by becoming members who do good in your own communities.
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