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The ME to WE foundation places a large emphasis on empowering youth to make a difference in the world.

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A summary of the movement the organization is a part of and a brief history of the social movement

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A summary of the movement the organization is a part of and a brief history of the social movement

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As previously mentioned, ME to WE places a large emphasis on empowering youth. This model was introduced by the charity's founders Marc and Craig Kielburger, who realized through their own experiences that youth are full of good ideas and deserve to be recognized. Hence, in the nine years of it's official existence, ME to WE has promoted youth involvement in world issues, primarily by providing the opportunity for annual volunteer trips, where teens are provided the opportunity to travel to less privileged parts of the world in order to witness and tackle growing issues such as poverty, child labour and a lack of clean water. Furthermore, ME to WE continues to encourage youth by celebrating their accomplishments in their annual " WE-Day" conference, which focuses on providing positive agents of change role models that will inspire more change. Therefore, the ME to WE movement's main goal is to promote youth empowerment through tackling greater world issues.

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Is this organization working effectively to achieve the objectives of the movement? Why or why not?

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Is this organization working effectively to achieve the objectives of the movement? Why or why not?

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I strongly believe that the ME to WE foundation is working very effectively to achieve the objectives of their movement. I believe ME to WE's emphasis on youth development has proved greatly beneficial to growing their charity, for you see, a main way to advocate for change is to educate. Furthermore, with our current generation living our lives through social media, information is far more likely to be passed around, potentially informing more youth of the difference they can make. This is likely the cause for the 130'000 youth volunteers who are looking to make a change through the ME to WE foundation. In addition, the foundation has managed to donate $8.5 million to the WE foundation, all while employing 1'400 underprivileged African women. Therefore, it is indisputable that the ME to WE foundation is effectively working towards it's goal of empowering youth while still managing to combat major world issues.

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Would you personally support this organization? Explain why or why not.

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Would you personally support this organization? Explain why or why not.

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I personally am proud to say that I currently support the ME to WE foundation. I was originally introduced to the foundation through Bur Oak's Global Action council, where we partook in the WE-Day celebration. On that day I truly comprehended what it meant to become an agent of change and understood that I wanted to be one of the 130'000 kids to join hands and make a difference in the world. In addition, ME to WE's emphasis on combating current world issues, primarily the Syrian refugee crisis and African water issue, are world events that currently peak my interest, hence by being able to join forces with a charity that prioritizes my inclusion in these profound issues, I personally feel a large sense of pride and empowerment in knowing i have the ability to make a change.

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This article explores the history of the ME to WE foundation, explaining its impact on the youth involved.

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At 17, Razan Samara is a Free The Children veteran.

The high-school student from Mississauga has been involved in the charitable organization since the age of 12. While in social studies class, Ms. Samara read the story of how Craig Kielburger founded Free The Children when he was just 12 and was inspired to join. A self-proclaimed "shy kid," she says being involved has helped her find her voice.

"Now I'm probably the loudest kid you could ever meet," she says. Much of Ms. Samara's free time is devoted to organizing fundraising efforts for her school's Free The Children club - campaigns with names like We Are Silent and We Scare Hunger. Her club has also built homes with Habitat for Humanity and volunteered at local food banks. "I've realized that a huge portion of my happiness comes from helping other people," she says.

Now that she is applying to university, Ms. Samara says she hopes to some day get into medical school so she can work for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). An immigrant from Palestine, she says she always understood the challenges faced by people of her background during times of civil unrest, but says that Free The Children opened her eyes to the suffering of people all over the world.

"It makes you realize that no matter how different a person is, we go through the same troubles and turmoil and we need to be there to support each other," she says. "We need to work together to overcome all our problems."

Ms. Samara is just one of the 2.3 million children worldwide who participate in Free The Children and its sister programs each year. In the 20 years since Free The Children was founded by Thornhill, Ont., brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger, it has grown into an international organization that also includes Me to We (a social enterprise that donates half its proceeds to Free The Children) and We Day (star-studded stadium events that celebrate young people's fundraising accomplishments). Through Free The Children's Adopt-a-Village development model, more than 1,000 schoolhouses have been built in countries such as Kenya, India, Ecuador, China and Haiti, and one million people now have improved access to clean water, health care and sanitation.

When asked his perspective on the organization's 20-year milestone, Craig Kielburger says, "I think it's highly improbable that we're still here.

"When we first applied for charitable status and the Canadian government said, 'You can't because no one is over 18 and you can't sign the paperwork,' it was very challenging to shift peoples' thinking," he says. "The idea that kids had the ability and responsibility to get involved in service projects, 20 years ago, that was foreign to people."

In the early days, there was a debate whether Free The Children should be discussed during school time or limited to an extracurricular activity, says Mr. Kielburger. Now, Free The Children is in the classrooms of 5,000 Canadian schools through the We Schools program.

"Every week we have a new curriculum resource to teach about a cause, every month there's a new civic campaign," he says. "We're engaging the next generation to serve."

Clearly, Free The Children has had a huge impact - one that grows with each passing year. But can organizations like Free The Children continue to engage the youth of today - the technologically savvy, YouTube-watching, social media-loving Generation Z - and will these kids become the socially responsible, globally engaged adults of tomorrow?

Generation Z youth (generally accepted as the under-20s and the children of Gen X, though it depends on whom you ask) have developed a reputation for being more socially aware than their millennial predecessors. Robert Barnard, chief executive officer of Toronto-based strategic consultancy Decode, has been studying youth attitudes and culture for 20 years, and he says Generation Z is definitely more aware of the world's problems than previous generations. "Each generation gets more aware of more issues because of the pervasiveness of the media," he says. "It continues to accelerate."

However, Mr. Barnard says his company has done studies on each generation as they come of age - Generations X, Y and Z - and have found this generation (specifically kids 13 through 19) is not necessarily any more involved in social justice or activism or than Y or X was at that age.

The voices of Gen Z's most passionate young activists - be it Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai or U.S. environmental crusader Kelsey Juliana - are inspiring and influential, but when it comes to the whole cohort, "people may be putting [Gen Z] up as more involved than they really are," he says.

When it comes to activism today, "there's a difference between breadth and depth. If you change the colour overlay on your Facebook photo because you believe in a particular cause, it's an interesting statement, but the real change takes depth and sometimes I think that's where young people can get it mixed up," says Mr. Barnard.

"Yes, it's easier to participate, but that doesn't mean we make change any faster," he says.

Mr. Kielberger agrees that the massive amount of information young people have access to can be overwhelming for them. "You can click, you can see the heartbreaking image of the little boy on the beach, but what are you supposed to do about it?" he says. "It is actually a careful balance - we don't want to expose young people and not give them the ability to help, because they'll just close their eyes and close their hearts. You need to give them tangible tools."

To remain relevant to their connected participants, Free The Children has developed new tech tools to augment their programming, says Mr. Kielburger. For example, We365 is an app that allows users to browse and take on "challenges" with their smartphone, as well as track their volunteerism so they can build their "social good portfolio" for a workplace or school application.

With the website Track Your Impact, people who buy a Me to We item - such as a Rafiki bracelet made by Kenya artisans - get a unique eight-digit code that tells them exactly what items were delivered to people in need and pinpoint on a map where it was delivered around the world.

"The generation we're now serving and engaging at home grew up with, 'I can check in on Foursquare, or I can track a package that I send with FedEx,' so why can't I see where my charitable donation is going?" says Mr. Kielburger.

As for whether alumni will remain engaged, Mr. Kielburger says they've found through third-party measurement that 80 per cent of participants continue to volunteer after being in the program and 79 per cent voted in the last federal election.

"I'm fascinated to see the long-term impact on philanthropy in our country and service and political involvement and people running for office," he says. "It's a giant experiment in civic engagement at a country level."

Megan Boler, professor of theory and policy studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, has spent the past five years studying how young people are redefining activism, including interviewing 70 participants of 2011's Occupy movement. She says that the programs such as Free The Children and We Schools are helping to take away the negative image of the activist, which for so long was portrayed as either violent and radicalized or very dismissive, like "long-haired hippies smoking pot," she says.

"This could be very significant, showing a larger sea-change in social institutions," says Prof. Boler. "The clear benefit to me is by exposing this activity at a younger age and to expose people to critical thinking and a collaborative sensibility at that age will make it possible for what's now known as the bad-word activism to become commonplace in the sense of a responsibility for one another and for the planet."

Laura Arndt, director of advocacy service for Ontario's Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, says that in order to help alumni continue on a path of social engagement, organizations including Free The Children should continue to expand their programming into postsecondary institutions. "We cannot forget that in university, the pressures on young people to make money and get the good jobs take over, and that's where a Me to We focus is needed," she says.

Young people need to learn that "you can still be an idealist and a mobilizer as an adult, you don't have to leave that behind," she adds.

Ashley Murphy would certainly agree with that sentiment. The 17-year-old from Ajax, Ont., was born HIV-positive and has shared her story with We Day crowds across Canada, working to reduce the stigma around HIV and deliver a message of positivity. Ms. Murphy says participating in Free The Children's Me to We program has been a profound experience for her. "It changed my life, it truly did."

In 2104, Ms. Murphy went on a Me to We trip to Kenya and was able to meet two girls there who were also HIV-positive, an encounter that still affects her emotionally when she recalls it.

"Me and the girls clicked instantly," she says. "We all knew what it was like to be youth having HIV and so we just really connected on a deeper level that not many people get to feel." Upon her return, Ms. Murphy embarked on a mission to raise $10,000 to build another school in Kenya. She's confident her generation will bring the Me to We mentality into adulthood.

"We'll be the adults soon," she says. "If we're making an impact now as young people, imagine what we can do 10 to 15 years from now."

Follow us on Twitter: @globeandmail

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médecins sans frontières;doctors without borders;habitat for humanity;school;age;youth;razan samara ;free the children ;we are silent ;we scare hunger;marc kielburger;craig kielburger;we day ;generation z ;we365;megan boler;ontario institute for studies in education ;university of toronto;laura arndt;ontario’s office of the provincial advocate for children and youth;ashley murphy;charity;

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At 17, Razan Samara is a Free The Children veteran. The high-school student from Mississauga has been involved in the charitable organization since the age of 12. While in social studies class, Ms. Samara read the story of how Craig Kielburger founded Free The Children when he was just 12 and was inspired to join.

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One news article about the social movement the organization is a part of.

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One news article about the social movement the organization is a part of.

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This article describes the social movement through the lens of a youth participant.

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Yesterday's WE Day event welcomed a number of inspirational speakers, each with an eye-opening story about the challenges faced every day throughout the world. In honour of their courage to share their story with the WE Day audience, I'd like to share my personal experience from a ME to WE trip I took to Kenya.

WE Day and Free the Children have greatly impacted my life; in simple words-my trip to Kenya was the most life-changing experience. I was on a team of 25 youth, and together we spent three and a half weeks in a small Kenyan community building a school from the ground up. With the help of local Kenyan workers, we managed to build three full classrooms.

During our days off, a giant green truck-I called it the green machine-drove us around to different schools to meet Kenyan children attending Free the Children schools. It was exhilarating to see the smiles on the children's faces, and to know how thankful they were for our team providing them with a safe place to learn.

We visited numerous Free the Children facilities, and I was pleased to see the amount of jobs the organization had provided for individuals around the world. I was content knowing these children were gaining education from the schools, books, and computers Free the Children and their supporters were providing.

A moment I remember like it was yesterday occurred when we visited a Momma's home. After helping her travel hours to obtain clean water for a family of 10, she couldn't wait to show us her beautiful home made from hay and cow manure.

Only five of us could fit inside at once. The home consisted of a single bed made out of a hay stack with two pillows. The best part of the experience was realizing how happy she was. I thought to myself, I live in a nice house, have my own bed, and a kitchen filled with food, yet I still find ways to complain. How could someone with the bare minimum be so content in life? By the end of the day I had my answer; she had a family, a roof, a school for her children, and most of all, she had a loving global community willing to help. That's all anyone really needs to be happy.

After arriving home, I started watching my water intake, and was extremely careful about spending habits. Most of all, I made sure to always put a smile on my face.

The Momma's, the beautiful children, and the hard working men, in the Kenyan community all have struggles much bigger than mine, but you would never know due to their vibrant and contagious smiles and laughter. I learnt to appreciate everything I have, and continue to spread awareness of how important it is to help make your someday come true. My someday was to travel the world while helping make a difference. My someday came true four years ago, but my journey in changing the world and helping those who deserve it is just beginning.

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Yesterday's WE Day event welcomed a number of inspirational speakers, each with an eye-opening story about the challenges faced every day throughout the world. In honour of their courage to share their story with the WE Day audience, I'd like to share my personal experience from a ME to WE trip I took to Kenya.

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This clip explains the annual WE Day event that is hosted by ME to WE in hopes of celebrating youth accomplishments.

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Fueled by the desire for change, and the hope that the world can be a better place, We Day is the call that brings a generation together. More than just one day of celebration and inspiration, Free The Children's We Day is youth leading local and global change.