Nelly Furtado, Jacob Hoggard & I at #WeDay

Recently I had the opportunity to join Telus at We Day in Toronto. We Day is an amazing event held in cities across Canada, intended to empower youth into action on local and global actions. You can find out more about We Day by reading I’m Going To We Day Toronto.

There was no way I could have gone without support from my husband, I cannot navigate crowds well so I was jazzed when Telus invited him to come along. This was hubby’s first blogger event and we were using it as a night away in the city so I know all of you parents can understand how FABULOUS this was!

We arrived the day before We Day and met up with the Telus blogger team. We had the rare opportunity to tour the ACC and see behind the scenes while they were setting up and doing sound check. Telus provided us all with Samsung Galaxy SIII to use at We Day to promote their Phones for Good campaign. Telus will be donating $25 from the sale of every TELUS Samsung Galaxy SIII or Samsung Ace Q to Free the Children which are the organizers of We Day.

blogger tour

Can you pick out my hubby? Nope I’m not telling you who he is…..

It was very interesting to see behind the scenes as lighting was tested and sound check began…

We were then taken to a quieter area where we had the opportunity to meet with some of the speakers. Their enthusiasm was contagious, so much so that I’ve already arranged with one of my daughter’s teachers to assist her with a We Schools In Action group she’s planning at our school.

Meeting Craig Kielburger was a treat, this handsome young man has in act together! Craig founded Free The Children at the age of 12 with his brother Marc and the two now serve as volunteers. Free The Children delivers innovative programming to more than 4,000 youth groups and hundreds of thousands of young people in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom today and yet Craig is utterly down to earth and approachable.

Spencer West is probably the most impactful person I’ve had the opportunity to meet recently. With all of the physical and cognitive challenges I’ve faced since my car accident I’ve often felt unable to do things and sometimes even useless.

Well spending just 5 minutes with Spencer has thrown thoughts such as those out the window, here’s a man who is witty, down to earth and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro on his freaking hands!!

Spencer reminded me that nothing is out of reach if we only believe.

After a long day touring and interviewing we headed over to our hotel and enjoyed a quiet night alone together. Apparently as we near 40 our night away from the kids means taking baths and napping for 3 hours then grabbing a quick dinner and going to bed exhausted.

We woke early and geared up in our We Day T Shirts which we’d bought the day before, grabbed a coffee and headed out. Our hotel was a few blocks from the ACC and the energy on the walk was wonderful. The streets were jammed with groups of youth walking and chattering excitedly about We Day.

We were greeted by the team from Telus and taken through the entry process very smoothly. We were then led to the far off reaches of the nose-bleed section of the ACC. While the location didn’t lend itself well to photos, it was a very cool view where we could see backstage as the performers and speakers prepared.

Here’s a great shot I snapped using the zoom function on the Samsung Galaxy SIII, it turned out well I think.

This is a photo I took using the Panoramic setting on the Samsung Galaxy SIII.

We were brought down to floor level to enjoy the rest of the show and feel the vibe up close and personal.

Being surrounded by 20 thousand youth who are filled with the enthusiasm and the belief that they CAN change the world was amazing! The performers and speakers provided motivation and a message that living with a clear view of this potential was essential to create make a difference. By going from the thinking of ME to WE these children will indeed affect us all.

Hedley

Nelly Furtado

If you’re interested in seeing all the video from We Day Toronto, head on over to Much Music where they’ve got them posted.

Jacob Hoggard, Nelly Furtado, Craig Kielburger

I also had the opportunity to attend a press conference where Craig Kielburger, Nelly Furtado and Jacob Hoggard announced Free The Children’s new We Create Change campaign. It’s a campaign about change, these three celebrities challenged the world to launch a penny drive and help Free The Children reach their goal of providing clean water to 100,000 people in their Adopt a Village communities around the world. With the campaign coincides with the Canadian penny going out of circulation, this is the perfect time to start collecting those pennies! Head over to We Create Change to see details and sign up now!

Unfortunately because of my pain levels my hubby and I didn’t get to enjoy the full day but as we left we both agreed what an amazing event Telus had invited us to. It is a day we won’t soon forget….and this photo has made our children super jealous which is a bonus! Hopefully next year they’ll be able to come, it’s an experience every child should enjoy.

Nelly Furtado, Sober Julie, Jacob Hoggard