mr.x
Oct 4, 2008, 3:23 AM
Dalai Lama to rock GM Place in 2009
Catherine Rolfsen, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, October 03, 2008
What do you get when you pack GM Place with 16,000 like-minded youngsters and bring the Dalai Lama on stage?
The seeds of social change -- or at least that's what Marc Kielburger hopes.
On Sept. 28, 2009, Kielburger and his children's rights organization, Free the Children, will bring the spiritual leader of Tibet to Vancouver to headline a one-day extravaganza he describes as a "rock concert for social good."
It will be the first Vancouver version of Free the Children's annual Me to We Day, an event that brings Canadian students together with top leaders and activists in order to motivate them to change the world.
It's the brainchild of Marc and Craig Kielburger, brothers who began philanthropy in their youth and have since co-authored several bestselling books.
This year's Oct. 17 Toronto event -- the second held in that city -- features celebrity guests including Mia Farrow, Sarah McLachlan and the cast of Degrassi: The Next Generation.
Marc Kielburger said he's already getting excited about bringing the party to Vancouver in 2009.
The Dalai Lama has confirmed he'll deliver the keynote address, Kielburger said, and anti-poverty guru Prof. Jeffrey Sachs will also be there.
"It's going to be an amazing group of people," Kielburger said.
But, he says: "It's not just an event -- it's really a movement."
The students who come to GM Place will have pledged to take part in local and international action in the months following the gala, including Free the Children's Adopt a Village program.
The organization says that after the inaugural Me to We Day in 2007, student-led initiatives saw 50 schools built, 10 clean water projects implemented and 200 alternative income projects created in countries like Kenya, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka. Kielburger wants to see that number keep growing.
"Now that we're actually bringing it to Vancouver, and the fact that His Holiness is serving as the keynote speaker, the sky now is the limit," he said.
Me to We Day events will be held in both Vancouver and Toronto in 2009. But they will be viewed by thousands more via live Internet feed, and in the months after, youth speakers will bring the message to hundreds of schools across Canada. Free the Children has already been talking with several Metro Vancouver boards of education about how they can support the initiative in the classroom, Kielburger said.
Although participating students are welcome to work on whatever philanthropic projects inspire them, Kielburger says the movement is linked by an underlying philosophy: creating a community committed to positive change.
"The '80s and the '90s were known literally as the 'me' generation.... We need to swing the pendulum back very far to the other direction, so people focus more on 'we,' " he said. "And that has to start with young people."
crolfsen@vancouversun.com
Catherine Rolfsen, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, October 03, 2008
What do you get when you pack GM Place with 16,000 like-minded youngsters and bring the Dalai Lama on stage?
The seeds of social change -- or at least that's what Marc Kielburger hopes.
On Sept. 28, 2009, Kielburger and his children's rights organization, Free the Children, will bring the spiritual leader of Tibet to Vancouver to headline a one-day extravaganza he describes as a "rock concert for social good."
It will be the first Vancouver version of Free the Children's annual Me to We Day, an event that brings Canadian students together with top leaders and activists in order to motivate them to change the world.
It's the brainchild of Marc and Craig Kielburger, brothers who began philanthropy in their youth and have since co-authored several bestselling books.
This year's Oct. 17 Toronto event -- the second held in that city -- features celebrity guests including Mia Farrow, Sarah McLachlan and the cast of Degrassi: The Next Generation.
Marc Kielburger said he's already getting excited about bringing the party to Vancouver in 2009.
The Dalai Lama has confirmed he'll deliver the keynote address, Kielburger said, and anti-poverty guru Prof. Jeffrey Sachs will also be there.
"It's going to be an amazing group of people," Kielburger said.
But, he says: "It's not just an event -- it's really a movement."
The students who come to GM Place will have pledged to take part in local and international action in the months following the gala, including Free the Children's Adopt a Village program.
The organization says that after the inaugural Me to We Day in 2007, student-led initiatives saw 50 schools built, 10 clean water projects implemented and 200 alternative income projects created in countries like Kenya, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka. Kielburger wants to see that number keep growing.
"Now that we're actually bringing it to Vancouver, and the fact that His Holiness is serving as the keynote speaker, the sky now is the limit," he said.
Me to We Day events will be held in both Vancouver and Toronto in 2009. But they will be viewed by thousands more via live Internet feed, and in the months after, youth speakers will bring the message to hundreds of schools across Canada. Free the Children has already been talking with several Metro Vancouver boards of education about how they can support the initiative in the classroom, Kielburger said.
Although participating students are welcome to work on whatever philanthropic projects inspire them, Kielburger says the movement is linked by an underlying philosophy: creating a community committed to positive change.
"The '80s and the '90s were known literally as the 'me' generation.... We need to swing the pendulum back very far to the other direction, so people focus more on 'we,' " he said. "And that has to start with young people."
crolfsen@vancouversun.com