Free The Children-

 Corporate Social Responsibility and your Citizen Journalism

One of over sixty different Free The Children corporate partners are Me to We, which I chosen to research what they do to contribute to the work of Free The Children.

Me to We: Is a family of social enterprises that seek to support the work of Free The Children. Me to We is neither a traditional charity nor a ordinary corporation, Me to We is a social enterprise. Their goal is to reach out to people of all ages to show them how our collective daily choices can change the world. Me to We is helping individuals make a lifestyle shift.

Free The Children: A registered charity, world's largest network of children helping children through education. FTC main goals are to free children from poverty and exploitation and free young people from the notion that they are powerless to effect positive change in the world. Today, FTC has built more than 500 schools, educating more than 50,000 children every day.

above information from http://www.freethechildren.com/aboutus/message/

Why did Me to We become involved with Free The Children?

Me to We became involved with Free The Children because they are always looking for ways to change the world. The two were founded together. Me to We and FTC were founded by both Craig and Marc and therefore are brother organizations. Even though the two are very similar they have their own responsibilities and roles. They also have their own ways of

achieveing their missions and goals. The missions of FTC and Me to We are similar but as individualsm they try hard to make their own difference in the world.

Free The Children and Me to We have partnered up to create experiences for young people to make a difference. These experiences include overseas trips and building schools and water wells. There are several young people that have experienced this great opportunity but one young lady that I personally know know is Siera Bearchell, who is the reigning Miss Teen Canada-World 2009. Siera states that her trip to Kenya with Me to We and Free The Children was a life-changing experience. To read more about Siera's trip, use this link. http://www.missteencanadaworld.com/meet_mtcw/blog_detail/50

The relationship of Free The Children and Me to We has contributed the following:

• Me to We gives half of its annual net profits to Free The Children, which is recognized as Me to We’s official charitable partner. The other half of its profits is reinvested to sustain the growth of the enterprise.
• Through Me to We, our dream is to bring Free The Children's already low administrative rate down to zero in the next five years, meaning 100% of all donations to Free The Children will go directly to projects. This is unprecedented in the charitable sector for an organization of Free The Children's scope and scale
• Over the last year alone, Me to We donated more than $1 million to Free The Children in cash and in-kind contributions. This translates into Me to We providing cash donations of about $400,000. These funds were used by Free The Children to help pay salaries of many of its administrative staff, provide free rent of its office space in Toronto and assist with other administrative costs that otherwise would have been financed through general donations
• In addition, more than $600,000 in-kind was donated by way of Me to We team members, who provided thousands of hours of volunteer service to Free The Children. This also includes training, workshops and consulting to Free The Children projects. Any educational materials or products provided to Free The Children by Me to We are always for free or at actual cost, thus further helping to stretch every dollar donated to Free The Children. Me to We “walks the talk”, helping Free The Children every day in important volunteer and services capacities

the above information provided by http://www.freethechildren.com/aboutus/message/

There are several press releases and media about the relationship between Free The Children and Me to We, here are a few:

• Me to We: "A rock concert for social good" 
• We Day Vancouver - 2009
• Degrassi Cast Builds African School - 2007

 and many more.

Sources:

www.metowe.com

www.freethechildren.com.

Who's That Girl?

If I were to have my own TV show, it would most likely be a celebrity gossip show. This because my whole life, my family called me 'reporter' because I would always know the latest news about anything and I loooove to talk. My TV show would always be crazy and exciting just like Ellen, which I think is so much fun to watch. There would always be loud music so that the audience and viewers could get up and dance and enjoy themselves.

My show would be all truth, I would never talk about anything that does not seem realistic. My show would be a place where we could have celebrity guests, where they could either confirm or deny stories about the celebrity.

         Like most TV shows, the audience would recieve daily gifts from sponsors such as Goody, once the audience gets a try of one of the products, they would keep buying. Also, I would give out another item such as a discount card given by Studio 600 Salon (Toronto Hair Extensions). Faze Magazine is also one of my great sponsors because it is Canada`s #1 Student Magazine and teenagers would most likely be the majority of the viewers of my TV show so they would get led to Faze Magazine.   

My web pages, blogs, fan pages, etc. would be sponsored by Frank Ideas and Execution. 

All my sponsors would want to be one because they would be shown regularily and talked about to the audience which would bring them business.

My talk show wouldn`t be all about celeb`s and gossiping, it would be a way to give money to all kinds of charity`s, one such as Free The Children. My audience wouldn`t ever be too big because whenever I get sponsored, half of the donated items/funds would go to a charity. This would be my way of giving back and also I would do this cause I always wanted to give to a charity and make a difference in someone`s life if I was ever given something.

My show would sound similar to most gossip TV shows but once viewed, it would sure be a good, unique show and I know you would enjoy it.                                

Schools over. I have been crazy busy in the last couple weeks, fundraising etc. But quite a bit has happened. Before I finished my grade 10 year, I was awarded my school's Baptiste Ratt Award which is given to one boy and girl in grade 10 each year. This award was given to me because of my leadership, school and community involvement, and my achievements during my grade 10 school year.

I was very honoured to have receieved this award. Along with my good friend Evan Stryde, who I have known and been friends with since grade 1.

Grade 10 went by extremely fast but now that I am done school, I can put all my focus towards the pageant and finish up my blog assignments. Next thing you know, grade 11 will be here! :)

Welcome to La Ronge, Saskatchewan. In this weeks’ blog assignment, I will inform you on Northern Saskatchewan’s natural beauty, in which I am representing Miss Teen Northern Saskatchewan-World 2010. Come and experience through my personal blog all that the Lac La Ronge area has to offer.

Miss Teen Where?

Along the shores of Lac La Ronge are the communities of La Ronge, Air Ronge, and Lac La Ronge Indian Band. These three communities combined make up the population of approx. 5000 people. La Ronge began as a trading post during the fur trade days. La Ronge and all its spectacular woodlands and waters are most commonly described as breathtaking.

Scenic Attractions

                                                                                                                             Nipekamew Sandcliffs

Located 45 minutes south of La Ronge. They are naturally formed, towering white limestone columns soaring as high as 25 m high. These very fragile cliffs were formed through glacier deposits from the Nipekamew River. These cliffs are a protected site.

             There are several campgrounds in the La Ronge area, which most offer electricity, water, shower houses, telephone, laundry facilities, beaches, playgrounds, picnic shelters, boat launches and docking.

Holy Trinity Anglican Church

Many of the attractions of Northern Saskatchewan can only be reached by water. The Holy Trinity Church is one of them, this church was built between 1854 and 1860 and is the oldest building in Saskatchewan.

         Most of the materials used for the church were locally made. The boards were made from local timber and the original red paint was made from local ochre clay. The locks, hinges and 1000 pieces of stained glass for the windows were brought from England by ship, portage and boat. The Holy Trinity Anglican Church recently just celebrated its 150th year anniversary.

         There are several other attractions; some to name are Nistowiak Falls and the historying pictographs.

Nistowiak Falls, 80-foot thundering falls. Placed on the north-end of Lac La Ronge. It is said to watch for caves near the falls, belonging to the Little People.

Pictographs- Rock paintings along the Churchill River. These are old paintings on granite rock. These paintings are not yet dated and are only accessible by water.

             La Ronge is known for it’s great outdoors and that is what I love about my home the most. The lake is where my family and I spend most of our time, in both the summer and winter. Our beautiful cabin on La Ronge Lake is my second home where I enjoy swimming, boating, fishing, and water-skiing, and in the winter I enjoy skidooing, ice fishing and snowshoeing.

            As for the town of La Ronge, it includes several resturaunts, grocery stores, clothing stores, parks and beaches. Some of the other attractions in the town are the Eagle Point golf course which includes a 9-whole challenging course. There are also two well-known hiking trails in the La Ronge area; the 1.3 Nemeiben Nature Trail and the Nut Point 15 km hiking trail. Both include a beautiful scenery of nature. La Ronge is also home to the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League 2010 champions, the La Ronge Ice Wolves, the team is home at the Mel Hegland Uniplex which includes a curling rink as well.

            Just recognizing my sponsors, Areva, , Cameco, Lac La Ronge Indian Band, and several other family and friends.

           Northern Saskatchewan is full of several other attractions, the list never ends. It is a very peaceful, relaxing environment. La Ronge and the lake is my favourite place.

The past week or two has been hectic. Fundraising, fundraising and more fundraising! We have been holding several fundraisers such as a yard sale, and we did so good.. with all the donated items. I have many fundraisers comung up, some of them are another yard sale, hockey pool and a bake sale. I am scheduling a Walk-A-Thon for Free The Children and am hoping to get a great amount of donations toward that. But other than that, so far fundraising has been going good so I am not worrying too much yet.

I cannot believe it is already the end of May, it seemed like just last week it was my dream come true and I was crowned Miss Teen Northern Saskatchewan! But soon enough its going to bee Toronto time.. I am super excited.

Oh my goodness, I never knew how hard it would be to try and find a photographer in this town and area. The closest photographer I got contact with was like 4 hours away! But luckily for me, one day when I was out for a walk, I saw a local guy photographing his family and he said he wasnt a professional but his photographs were amazing. We scheduled a date to take some photographs and they turned out pretty good.

Last, tomorrow is prom.. Its a Much Video Dance which is going to be exciting and fun because we havent had one around town in a while!

But that is all for today, I got to go do some homework so until next time.. Good evening :)

Well I did a bottle drive yesterday, it was such a beautiful day out too. On the bottle drive, I got not only bottles & cans but several money donations.. Thank you everyone! We got several truck loads going house to house but than my dad and I went out to one of our family friends and got a full truck load, which was amazing. We were worried about how long sorting was going to take but as we were looking through the bags of bottles, we realized that they were pretty much all sorted already. So that was done for us. :)

I had a very long and busy day at school today. I receieved a nomination for an award at school from a teacher of mine. Im not too sure what kind of an award it is but I filled out a paper that asked about my community and school involvement. So as soon as I find out more about that, I will be sure to let you know. This afternoon I watched the musical Annie which was performed by the music group from my school plus a few children from the elementary school. They did amazing.

On Tuesday, I receieved an e-mail from a lady from APTN National News, shes looking to do a news story on me in the next week or two. I am so excited because the news crew will be talking to my family, friends and teachers. They will be focusing on getting my message heard all around, letting people know that anything is possible if you just keep on trying and dont let anything get in your way.

Well that is all for today, thanks for reading my posts.

Hey Everyone,

I hold the title of Miss Teen Northern Saskatchewan-World and I am very honoured! In 2009 I did this same pageant and was very dissappointed that I did not win a title but I went back because I enjoyed the experience and I wanted to demonstrate that anything is possible if you just keep trying and don't let anything get in your way.

Its been a busy couple weeks since I was crowned. My mom & I have been planning fundraisers. This week we are having a bottle drive, bake sale and a community yard sale. So I am very excited for that. Also last week, I got my very first sponsor which made me very happy.