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Inspiring youths to get involved in their community

Sydney Giesbrecht chose Halloween For Hunger as her leadership project hoping to inspire area youth to participate in the program
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Sydney Giesbrecht from Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School and her project

 

Many people will have heard about the international charity and youth movement, Free The Children, which was founded by children's rights advocate Craig Kielburger in 1995.

The Thornhill, Ont. resident was 12 years old when he read an article about the murder of 12-year-old Pakistani factory worker who had spoken out against child labour.

Kielburger did a school project on the prevalence of child labour, and soon after, he established Free The Children with a group of his 12-year-old classmates.

The organization has grown to be a largely youth-funded, based on the concept of "children helping children."

Enter Grade 12 Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School (PSO) student Sydney Giesbrecht.

As a member of the PSO leadership class, she and her classmates are asked to do a personal project each semester and Giesbrecht chose Halloween For Hunger, which is inspired by the Free The Children website.

"The website encourages youths to support other youths in education," she says.

As part of her project, Giesbrecht sent information to all of the south end elementary schools, the junior secondary and PSO.

"I emailed the information, added a link to the site (www.freethechildren.com) and wrote a newsletter for the children to take home to their parents."

The goal is to have the children collect non-perishable food items instead of candy when they're trick-or-treating on Halloween night, she adds.

Noting there will be a bin at the South Cariboo Rec. Centre's Halloween Town event for folks to drop off donations, Giesbrecht says PSO leadership students will also pick up the collected food at the elementary schools or the food can be dropped off at PSO on Nov. 1.

The food will be delivered to the 100 Mile food bank that day.

Giesbrecht says she thinks it's important for youths to get involved in the communities they live in.

"We have to help support the community, and by reaching out to the schools, it's a great opportunity to reach out to the younger students. I've always thought if you help younger kids and set a good example for them, it creates a better atmosphere throughout all the schools and the community."