Supporter Spotlight

North Toronto Collegiate Institute

We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again, teens are pretty amazing – especially all those that organize fundraising events in their high schools for War Child. Since War Child launched its Keep the Beat program in 2002, over four hundred high schools from across Canada have raised funds in support of War Child. Hundreds of outstanding student leaders have connected with us over the years and we thought we had seen it all; bikeathons, music marathons, overnight school concerts, albums recorded of student-inked songs – the list goes on and on – then North Toronto Collegiate Institute raised the bar.

This past August, Katherine McAuley, North Toronto’s Charity Week student Coordinator, got in touch with War Child to ask a few questions as we were in the running as the possible beneficiary for their annual Charity Week event. A few months later, after a schoolwide student vote, War Child was delighted to find out that we had been selected, and thus started our fantastic partnership with NT.

War Child student supporters are keen students who are involved and who, somehow find time to balance school and all of their extra curricular activities, like organizing fundraisers for causes they care about. But to be honest, the students at NT took multitasking to a whole new level. For a straight seven months this group of over fifty students coordinated the most successful student led fundraiser that War Child has ever seen. NT’s Charity Week raised the most funds that War Child has ever received from a high school in one academic year, an outstanding $45,200!

To put this achievement into perspective, upon receiving the gigantic handmade cheque, Dr. Samantha Nutt, War Child’s Founder and Executive Director, was left speechless. It goes without saying that this is a school community of dedicated, engaged and globally aware students who shatter all preconceived notions that today’s youth are an apathetic bunch. As is true of all student successes, North Toronto’s faculty, and especially Ms. Jenny Hayden – the event’s teacher supervisor – have fostered a space where students feel supported and encouraged to surpass expectations and realize their potential.

The achievements of North Toronto are a shining example of what students can do – not only here, in Canada, but in War Child’s international programs as well. It is the youth in war affected communities where War Child works who refuse to cede to the idea that their futures will be the same as their parents, that the challenges and adversity they face will propel them towards a future of violence. Youth everywhere are building stronger, brighter and more peaceful communities and because of them we are reminded of the power we possess to create a more just and equitable world.