This is the hardcore look of a crowd pumper. A team of 280 out of 700 volunteers at We Day.

Lessons learned from We Day:
Peanut butter never tastes good on olive flavoured bed.
Noise canceling headsets are never flattering.
CTV cameras will avoid you and your awkward headset at all costs.
Your closest friends can surprise you.

This has been my third year leading crowd pumping at We Day. I’ve been to We Days in both Vancouver and Toronto, I’ve pulled the sleepless We Day prep nights many times, and I’ve been hanging out behind the scenes for a long time. This year surprised me.

The surprise was my friends. Not a lot of my friends see what I do with Free The Children and Me to We. The worlds don’t usually mix. This year, they did. Many of my friends and Totem Park residents signed up to crowd pump and had the experience of having me as their staff lead. My golly, the passion and enthusiasm they showed in their outfits and energy stunned me. It’s awkward leaving residence at 5 in the morning in neon spandex, I know, and they not only did it but enjoyed themselves.

It’s so moving to have people walk up to you in residence and thank you for getting them involved in We Day. It’s so powerful to hear people tell you that the speech they heard made a difference in their life. It’s so wonderful to hear that someone got to meet Al Gore or shake Jesse Jackson’s hand. It’s absolutely inspiring to see the ripple effects that has happened since I first demonstrated the We Day dance to Vancouver.

Let’s back up here, since I first demonstrated the We Day dance to Vancouver?

You might recall a video of all the Totem Park advisors doing the We Day dance back in August. Since then, Place Vanier and UBC REC has learnt the dance too. For the last month and a half, I have been working on crowd pumping dance rehearsals and encouraging people here in the west to volunteer for Vancouver We Day. Slowly, the numbers went from 75 to 280 crowd pumpers signed up and attending practices.

It all started with a dance in my friend’s dorm room. Then, bringing it to my advising team. Then, flash mobbing the residence advisor orientation talent show with my team and Granville Island with the MOB. Then, running crowd pumping rehearsals and getting Totem Park involved. Now, inviting my friend Michel Chikwanine to hang out with residents in Totem and share his story while he’s here in Vancouver. It keeps going. Next week, we’ll have a Me to We workshop in the Haida House lounge. Next month, the Global Citizenship Committee will be bringing the Vow of Silence to Totem Park.

It all started with me showing Mark the We Day dance in his bedroom, a bbm from Jobin asking me to work for Me to We, and the best neon spandex wearing friends a girl could ask for. Look at how far we’ve come.

If you’ve read my blog before, you might be aware that I’ve worked at the Me to We/Free The Children offices in Toronto over this past summer and have been highly involved in something called the Me to We MOB. I seem to be a walking Me to We/Free The Children book of knowledge lately too, loads of fun. Now, for the third straight year, I’ve been a part of something MAGICAL. No word of a lie, MAGICAL. Yep, it’s the crowd pumping team for We Day. Last weekend I flew from Vancouver to Toronto for We Day and we’re just a little bit more than a week away from the big show in VANCOUVER on the 15th.

I’ve been out here in Vancouver working hard to get crowd pumpers together, practice the We Day dance, and working with the BC Office to run rehearsals. Toronto We Day was the first taste of getting to see the We Day dance in action with 18,000 youth and people scattered throughout the Air Canada Centre in their absolute best tight and bright. All that hard work = totally worth it. Thanks Alyssa for lending me your pink tights, they totally made people on the street turn heads.

So as I’m standing in the bowl of the Air Canada Centre last Thursday at We Day, this young guy you might of heard of before named Greyson Chance comes on to perform. He blew me away. My noise-canceling headset couldn’t stop me from being amazed by his voice and he’s only, what, 13? Here’s a video of his performance and what gives me the energy to keep doing what I’m doing–mass amounts of school work, volunteering and crowd pumping prep. Also, finding time to eat and sleep takes some level of passion that Greyson Chance is able to provide. Thanks Greyson, for inspiring university students to get through their full course loads and giving them the courage to sleep more than 6 hours a night too.

Also, if you click this link right here, hello I’m a link, it will take you to the We Day facebook page and for every ‘like’ Free The Children gets $1. They’re trying to get one million likes for $1,000,000. Now, those folks at the offices in Toronto are some of my closest friends and I know that they are working so hard to help Free The Children achieve all that they have achieved. Could you please help support them and all they do by clicking the link and liking We Day? I’ll love you forever. Well actually, I do already love you forever because you are reading my blog.

With much love,
That girl who is engaged in everything Me to We/Free The Children in every way possible and loves it.