Social Icons

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Amazing People With Lives Worth Emulating

     As I was browsing the net earlier, I came across two of the inspiring people I highly admired upon whom I gather ideas, insights and draw strength. Marc and Craig Kielburger, brothers, Canadian and co-founder of "Free The Children" organization.

     Being a person whose life's purpose is to help others achieve their life's goals too. I am particular with who's who are the people that might be of greater influence to me and strengthen my desire to continue with my life's passion.

     Let me orient you who are they and what are their life's inclinations.

Craig Kielburger


     He is the founder of Free The Children, the world's leading youth-driven charity that has inspired an entire generation to stand up and make their voices heard.


     The organization provides active citizenship education programs in Canada, the United States and the UK, reaching 3,500 school groups annually. The organization's We Schools in Action program fills stadiums with tens of thousands of young leaders who provide more than one million hours of community service every year.


     The organization has worked in 45 countries providing education, health care, clean water and alternative income programs. Its Adopt a Village development model currently provides holistic, scalable and sustainable child-focused intervention in seven nations. Free The Children has built in excess of 650 schools in developing countries and established more than 30,000 alternative income projects.

     Most remarkably, Craig originally started the organization in 1995 at only 12-years of age.

     Craig is also the co-founder and director of Me to We. This social enterprise encourages ethical living and social responsibility while also aiming to bring Free The Children's already low administrate rate to 0%, ensuring every penny goes to charitable programs. Me to We includes carbon-neutral international volunteer travel programs, leadership camps, a publishing house, a music label and the largest organic made-in-Canada clothing line.

     He is a syndicated columnist and New York Times bestselling author, who has written five books. His latest, to be released across North America in the fall of 2010, is called The World Needs York Kid: Raising Children Who Care and Contribute.

     Craig has a degree in peace and conflict studies from the University of Toronto and is the youngest-ever graduate of the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA program. He has received six honourary doctorates, The Roosevelt Freedom Medal, The World Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child (often called the Children's Nobel Prize) and is one of the youngest recipients of The Order of Canada. Craig's work has been featured on multiple appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, 60 Minutes and The Today Show; and in People, Time and The Economist.

Marc Kielburger

     Marc Kielburger is the co-founder of Free The Children, a unique international development and youth empowerment organization. Since its founding in 1995, Free The Children has become the world's leading youth-driven charity, inspiring an entire generation to stand up and have their voices heard.


     With the involvement of more than a thousand Youth in Action Groups, Free The Children has built more than 650 schools in developing regions, providing daily education to more than 55,000 children.

     One of Free The Children's most notable projects has been a joint project with Oprah Winfrey's Angel Network called O Ambassadors. The project was designed to educate, engage and inspire more than one million young people across North America to take action to help their underprivileged peers overseas.


     Marc is also the co-founder of Me to We Social Enterprises. This social enterprise encourages ethical living and social responsibility, while also aiming to bring Free The Children's already low administrate rate to 0%, ensuring every penny goes to charitable programs. Me to We includes carbon-neutral international volunteer travel programs, leadership camps, a publishing house, a music label, and the largest organic made-in-Canada clothing line.

     Marc graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, completing a degree in International Relations. He won a coveted Rhodes Scholarship and went on to complete a law degree at Oxford University with an emphasis on human rights law. Marc has also received four honorary doctorates for his work in the field of education and human rights.

      He is the co-author of national bestsellers Take Action! A Guide to Active Citizenship, Take More Action, The New York Times Best Seller Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World and, most recently, The World Needs Your Kid.

      With his brother Craig, Marc is a syndicated columnist carried by the Toronto Star, Vancouver Sun and Huffington Post, as well as for Canada’s most widely-read women’s magazine, Canadian Living.


     Marc is the recipient of many honours, including the Order of Canada and selection by the World Economic Forum as one of the 250 Young Global Leaders. His work has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, BBC as well as many other news and print media.

     These two amazing people are my heroes in terms of selfless service. Serving beyond the call of personal interest. They are awe-inspiring global personalities whose lives have been devoted to public interest and welfare more specifically fighting for the rights of every child through education. More power to you guys!

     For more information and details about their works, please visit http://www.freethechildren.com/ and get to know them deeper.


2 comments:

  1. I have known Craig's story way back 2004, when I happened to visit the BookSale store in SM Southmall looking for a nice read yet cheaper book. When I found his book "Free The Children" I scan a bit and I realized that the story is out-of-an ordinary one. So I immediately hand it over to the cashier for payment a meager amount of P60.00. From then on, I admired his advocacies.

    ReplyDelete

Glad you've visited my site. Your comment matters to me. You can also subscribe via email so that you'll know when I replied to you.

Thanks and have a nice read!

 
 
Blogger Templates