School: Jameswood Alternative

Written by: Katie

The Cause: Jameswood is fundraising for Free the Children’s Clean Water project for Ecuador and its Medical Supplies for Ecuador project.

The Action: Jameswood completed the "Vow of Silence" day to bring attention to children who do not have a voice in the world to speak out for their rights; "Halloween for Hunger", where students collected 56 cans of food instead of candy for Winnipeg Harvest; our"Toiletree" project, where we collected 156 toiletry items for the homeless in Siloam Mission. It was called the Toiletree because we decorated a Christmas tree with toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap and other toiletries instead of Christmas decorations. It was rewarding when we delivered these items and got a tour of the facility for the homeless. We also held a Spirit Week and Bake Sale the last week before Spring Break to fundraise for our Ecuador Projects.

Why: We chose to raise money for Clean Water for Ecuador and the Medical Project because every child and adult deserves clean water and medical help. Everyone knows we all need clean water as we need it to survive. We use it for drinking, to wash our bodies, and for cooking.

Medical care is also vital to humans and animals. Ecuador needs medical help for the people who are hurt or severely sick.

Our school has been a We School since September, 2011. I wanted to take part in We Day because it sounded amazingly different. As a We School, we are not just helping one person,we are helping many more. We have learned the motto from "Me to We".

The uniqueness of our school is that we all have different personalities, but we are all friends and support each other. We agree on the projects we have chosen to do to help the world. If someone was interested with getting involved I would say "check out the We Day website and see if there’s a group you could join to help get involved."

It’s an amazing feeling to know that you’re helping people that need it more than I do. All I ever wanted to do when I was younger was to help people who are in need of help and since I heard of this project I wanted to do it with my friends at school.

— Participants in Free the Children’s We Day Manitoba are writing regularly about how they are taking action and supporting local and global causes through the organization’s We Schools in Action year-long program. We Day Manitoba takes place Oct. 30, 2012 at MTS Centre in Winnipeg. For more info visit www.weday.com