A Taste of Africa - a huge success!

On March 10th, I had a Silent Auction and Appetizer event that was held at De Dutch in New Westminster to raise money for my trip! It was a huge success! Thank you so much to Tandrea and Marie Jang for letting me use their restaurant!! 


It was African themed, of course, and we had a variety of delicious food for everyone to try. Like Mogos (fried cassava root), Sukuma Wiki (Kenyan collard greens), Mandazi (Kenyan donut) and Kachumbari (tomato and onion side dish) plus others. A huge thank you to my Aunt, Robyn Murrell, who made some of the food, the Safari Snack House and Grill and the Kenya Foods & Spices, both located on Canada Way.

Dessert included some Chai Tea Latte cupcakes donated by Sheila at the new Pink Ribbon Bakery on 6th st! They were delicious. http://www.pinkribbonbakery.ca/


Everyone who attended were very supportive and made the night truly enjoyable. I cannot thank everyone enough.


All of the Silent Auction items were gone! We had over 50 items from a variety of places. Among these items were 2 Canucks tickets with amazing seats! Thank you to Claude Nobauer and Ross Macdonald for donating these!

Also, we were selling "B1" t-shirts (the "B1" representing the same kind of concept as "Me to We") designed by Eric Behn. Nick Jordan from Creative Embroidery donated the t-shirts and printed them for us! Thank you so much to both of you! 

A group of friends (Elena, Jenna, Meghan, Sophie, Sadie), my sister Jaycee and myself welcomed everyone by singing an African Celebration Song called Bonse Aba.


The total money raised at the end of the night was $1679.00!! I reached my goal of $6000. I was ecstatic at the end of the night.

As everyone left they received a tea bag with a special blend of teas to create an Kenyan Chai tea. These were put together by Sarah Thompson  from the Great Wall Tea Co. (http://www.greatwalltea.com/) located at the New Westminster Quay.


Thank you to Kay Morrow (my grandma), Leanne Zmud, Nora Tseng, Sophie Labrosse, Annie Takaro, Bryanna Jang and of course my whole family for helping at the event!











Also, thank you to Sadie Decoste who lent me display some of her items that she brought back from her trip to Kenya, and also Amin from Kenya Food & Spices for his decor items.






Thank you again to all of my supporters throughout my whole journey. Because of you I am able to realize my dream of travelling to Kenya with Free the Children and building a school. I never would have gotten here without all of the support I received. 


Here are more pictures from the event! Enjoy!

Jen Napier from Free the Children 

Kachumbari

Sukama Wiki

Silent Auction

A Taste of Africa

Bottle Drive numéro deux!

Hey!


Today I collected the last of January bottles & cans and brought them to the depot to sort! A big thanks to my dad, and Griffin Bailey for coming out to help :) It was a huge load! From this load we made $80 - that's a record!! So this month we made $180 off of bottles, for a total of $320 from my November and January bottle drives. A HUGE thanks again to everyone who donated bottles!! So successful! 


Here are some pictures :)

Full load!

All done :)

Updates and exciting news!

Hello everyone!


It's been a little while since I have posted an update, so here is some news about my trip and fundraising!


I am finally wrapping up my t-shirt fundraiser, as the last order just came in the other day! From this second fundraiser I have raised approximately $180. Thanks to everyone who supported me by buying a Me to We t-shirt. Me to We Style is a social enterprise connected to Free the Children, and their product line is domestically produced, sweat-shop free, and made from certified organic cotton and viscose from bamboo! They are awesome products! Check it out: www.metowestyle.com

Here are some of the shirts I was selling;

Also, I have been doing some bottle drives! I had one in November, and made $150. I am currently having another one, and I have raised $100 already, but still have a couple more loads to bring to the depot this weekend! I will let you know how that goes. A big thank you to everyone who have been involved by donating bottles, and also my dad, my sister, Jaycee, and Eric Behn for helping me to sort them!


Here is a picture of one of the loads;

My last post was about my presentation to the Rotary Club of New Westminster. I am booked for another presentation to the Kiwanis Club on March 6th! I will be posting updates about that.

Also, I have been planning a Silent Auction/Appetizer Event, but have been struggling to find a venue. Finally I have found one! It will be held at the De Dutch Restaurant in New Westminster. I am aiming for February 25th as the date - stay tuned for updates!

I have past the halfway mark and I am slowly but steadily climbing towards my goal. I would not have been able to get this far without the wonderful support from all of my friends, family, neighbours and other members of my community!

Be the Change,

Maddie :)

Rotary Club Presentation

On November 23rd 2011 I did a presentation to the Rotary Club's meeting. It was awesome having the chance to speak about my experience and my journey with Free the Children, my passion of helping others and my action plan! I had a good time, although I was nervous. I had a Powerpoint Presentation that I shared with them :) 

 

We Day 2011!!

Happy Sunday!

Two weeks prior to We Day I got a phone call from Beth, the Content Manager of We Day Vancouver, that I had been chosen to be part of a special segment on stage and I would speak! She told me I would be joined by one other young person, and Hamza, one of the facilitators from the Take Action Academy I attended this summer. When I hung up the phone, I started screaming. Then laughing, and eventually I was bawling my eyes out. My mom couldn't tell if I was happy or upset!! Finally I caught a breath and was able to tell her what Beth had just told me. One of my dreams was to meet Craig Kielburger (he's one of my heros), and just the thought that I MIGHT sent me over the edge. I called my friends and we screamed on the phone together. They are so supportive!!

We Day came so fast, it felt like the blink of an eye. The whole day felt like a dream. I entered through the entrance that all of the "talent" do, and got a backstage pass I wore the whole day. Me and Rayna, the other young girl who would be on stage with me, had a wrangler who was with us the whole day - Kris. We were so excited and nervous!!

GUESS WHAT?! My dream was realized!! I met Craig Kielburger, and shook his hand, and talked to him! I was shaking and almost crying. He is so amazing. I also met Marc Kielburger, Spencer West, Robyn Wiszowaty, Jacob Hoggard (the lead singer of Hedley), Down with Webster, Shequil O'neil (Shaq), Jesse Giddings,  Shawn Desman!! What an amazing experience.

Finally, we were called to the Cue Line because we would be on stage very soon!! My stomach was doing somersaults and my hands were all sweaty. Jesse introduced us and we walked out. I looked around and saw everyone in the arena - 18 000 people!! I was so nervous. But then, we got on stage, and my nerves disappeared. Although my heart was beating super fast, it was the adrenaline, the rush. The positive energy in the arena was so cool. This was different than Concours D'Art Oratoire (the french speaking contest I participate in), because no one was judging me. I was looking at a crowd of 18 000 empathetic, compassionate, caring world-changers - and it was amazing.

I will remember this day for the rest of my life <3

Be the Change,

Maddie

MY TRIP IS BOOKED

Hi everyone! My trip to Kenya is finally booked! I will be going to Kenya July 15th - August 5th 2012!! Wow, am I ever excited. This is going to be an amazing experience. I have lots of big fundraisers planned for next year! I'm thinking a Poetry Slam Night held at a local café and a Silent Auction where appetizers from around the world (specifically Africa) will be served. I will probably have some other smaller fundraisers, but I need some ideas! I'm going to the High School this year, so it'll be a new environment. I will figure something out once I'm settled in! Here's a video about the work Free the Children has been doing in Kenya, check it out!