Archive for the 'Featured' Category

Chain Reaction of Hope - Starting Feb 2010 in Ontario

Published by admin January 29th, 2010 in Press Releases, FB, Front Page, Student Zone, Hero Holiday and Featured. Closed

Chain Reaction of Hope

Hope for Haiti. Hope for another school. Hope for your school. All at the same time

Your school can start a chain-reaction of hope for Haitians! By giving 1 hour of your school’s time for a motivational benefit assembly you will be making a life-changing difference in 3 places: in Haiti, in your school, and in another school of your choice!

Here is how it works:

  1. To start the chain, Absolute will contribute our Think Day assembly free of charge to your school.
  2. What you might normally pay for such a presentation is instead used in a 100% charitable cause:
    1. 50% or more (depending on size of donation) to help the Haitian people in an incredibly direct and tangible way (read about it here). If you have another charity that you would prefer to give money for Haiti to, we will still work with you!
    2. 50% to “pay it forward”, relaying the impactful presentation to the next school (that you choose), thereby continuing the chain reaction.
  3. You might also consider using this event in combination with, or to spearhead or wind up a school fundraising campaign! More fundraising will create a higher percentage of money for Haiti (as our touring costs will remain fixed).Street in Haiti
  4. Check our website to see how far your chain goes, and how much it raises!

Why you should participate:

  1. Absolute’s Think Day is Canada’s leading motivational presentation and is unrivaled in relevancy and effectiveness. It features a live band, inspirational media, and motivational speakers in a concert level production. In addition to all the good that is being generated for Haiti, there will be a powerful message of hope and purpose for your students, and for the school that you pay it forward to.
  2. Grass-roots efficiency. Money for Haiti goes directly to very tangible needs and effective projects - not to the potential bureaucracy of a large NGO. We will provide your school with direct reports and updates on how the money is being used for good, and will answer any question you have on it!
  3. A simple and practical way for your school to feel that they are making a strategic response to one of the worst tragedies of our time.
  4. Snowball Effect. Relaying this campaign to the next school, your school can track how much good is happening down the line!
  5. Exponential Philanthropy! This is creating good for Haiti by doing something good for schools in your community. You can feel great about investing your school’s money or fundraising efforts to make a difference in 3 ways at once!

Why is Absolute doing this?
Absolute has been working alongside Haitians for over 5 years in our humanitarian work. Our hearts go out to many Haitian friends that have experienced unspeakable loss. We have seen the devastation ourselves, having volunteers on the ground within 2 days of the earthquake. It is worse than the media can even convey. This is our humble attempt to do what we can, with the resources we have (ie. a great motivational presentation), to help the people we love, in way that is actually going to get to them. We challenge you to join with us to start a Chain Reaction of Hope!

How to participate:

Email us at bookings@absolute.org or call our office at 1-866-432-4464 and talk to Mandy, our Bookings Coordinator, and we will help you get started.

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Its the Circle of our Lives

Published by meagan August 5th, 2009 in Think Day, FB, School of Leadership, Staff Blogs, Student Zone, Mainpage, Hero Holiday and Featured. Closed

Think Day, Hero Holiday, School of Leadership, ONE Book … Absolute.org has a variety of interesting programs, but are they related, tied together somehow? Absolute is like a ring, no no not the one ring…you know the one…”in the darkness bind them?” That’s not us, that’s some other guy. At Absolute.org every one of our programs support and lead into the other. Someone asked me today what I do for Absolute, in what capacity I work for them. The truth is that my job title is irrelevant. Each of our jobs support and are connected to each other’s. Absolute is a circle.

I just returned from a Hero Holiday trip in the Dominican Republic. I met some fantastic people. There are few things more surprising than how content the people of Dominican Republic really are, compared with someone living in a developed country. Even more surprising is the effervescent joy that overflows and spills onto us from the displaced people of Haiti living in Dominican Republic. There are too many stories to tell here and now. For more on Hero Holiday, please visit Hero Holiday’s site or subscribe to 52 Stories. What I’ve come to realize is that my job, my official job at Absolute, is incredibly tied into Hero Holiday. The members of Team 3, my Hero Holiday team, had students (and one mom) from all across our fine country. Almost every province was represented by Team 3’s members, and we even had a girl from the Yukon! Most of these participants were there because of Think Day, a multimedia motivational experience that visited their schools. That is my job, Think Day. I am a Road Team Manager, along with my husband JP. We travel with teams across Canada from September to June (we break for Christmas of course!) tirelessly (most days) driving, setting up, performing, speaking, running workshops, discussion groups, etc etc etc. We tell our stories to bring hope and courage to our listeners and to let our generation know that they have value, that their voice can be heard, and that we want to join our voice with theirs to change our world!

On my Hero Holiday trip I saw those values not only realized in the lives of our participants, but applied to a people who are considered regrettable and forgettable by a world who has done very little to better their situation. All year I talk, and I talk, and I talk about social justice and trips like Hero Holiday, telling Canadian students that they can do something about the injustices they see in their world, and that it is just that; THEIR WORLD. And here they were! All 19 of them on Team 3 asking the same question I asked myself over and over again this year. “Have I actually accomplished anything? What is it that I’ve really done?”

The answer to my question was in the 100+ students who participated in Hero Holiday Dominican Republic Week 1, and more directly in the 19 members of my team. Not all had been at the shows that I spoke at, but there were quite a few who had been, and most of them had seen an Absolute show or had known someone who did, and that was why they were there! Their experiences in Dominican Republic taught them, not just told them, that they matter to the world. They matter to that stateless Haitian child, or to that Dominican Grandmother. They are actually making a difference.

My purpose in Absolute was reflected in the eyes of a girl who had been given the power and opportunity to help when she thought she couldn’t. When she thought she was helpless to do anything about the situation she saw in front of her, I got to help her realize that we’re stronger together and that we really could help this life, this girl, this time.

Hero Holiday had changed my life before I had ever been on one and experienced it for myself, but now it’s not just stories, it’s real. I got to work alongside some people I had met briefly in a gym somewhere in Canada and had asked “Now that you know, what will you do?” and they showed up. That gives me 19 new reasons to keep going. To keep telling my stories, stories about myself, and about the people I have met and been inspired by. To keep touring, and driving, and setting up, and tearing down, and talking and talking and talking, because though you may not all come on a Hero Holiday, some of you may. Some of you will hear for the first time that you are valuable, that your life counts for something, and you will take that message with you wherever you go, including a Hero Holiday.

I will step out onto the road again with fresh perspective on what it is that I do. 19 faces and stories to keep me going, and this is the cycle, this is the circle: Think Day, School of Leadership, Hero Holiday, 52, One, Think Day, School of Leadership…

So watch for us this Fall. Are we coming to your school? If we’re not and you want us there, CLICK HERE .

What’s Going on in Adam’s Head?

Published by absolute April 2nd, 2009 in Think Day, Team 1 and Featured. Closed
Hope, value, dedication, purpose,and love. To accomplish anything great in this life, all of those character traits are needed. The funny thing about those character traits is that you never really know you have them until challenges arrive! Team One has had some challenges recently. As many of you are aware, we didn’t make it out west for our tour. On March 3rd, in Minnesota, our tour bus hit some black ice driving along the I-94. We flipped, rolled and destroyed our bus. Thankfully, none of us were seriously injured and we can go back to life as normal- if we want to. This accident has thrown us some challenges- the band we were touring with, along with our sound guy decided to leave after the accident to spend time at home. The rest of us decided to keep going. For Team One, we believe nothing worth doing comes easy and we believe in the message we share with students all across Canada. We can’t stop now - there is too much to do! So here we go… we have a new tour and a new team. The Ocean Buried is now touring with us. They have done a great job so far in the shows we have had here in Ontario! We are all super pumped to have them with us! With a band, we also need a sound man; so now we have Jesse. Jesse literally dropped everything he was doing to join our team! He is an amazing guy and has been a great help these past few weeks. Hope, value, dedication, purpose, and love. In Absolute, we share a message that we get to choose who we become. Every day, life gives us opportunities to become who we want to be. Those choices rarely come through easy events. Growth comes through the difficult times, and we all have them. How we respond shapes who we become. And…that is why we are all excited to get back out on the road! See ya on the road! Adam Churchman, Road Team Manager, Team One

Absolute on Channel 6 News

Published by absolute October 6th, 2007 in Front Page, Video, Newsletter, Press, Team 1, Student Zone, Road Team Blogs and Featured. 2 Comments

Absolute recently played at John Diefenbaker Secondary School in Hanover, ON. Channel 6 news covered the event, and here is the news clip that aired on Monday, Oct 1 2007:

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Did you get our FAX?

Published by absolute June 12th, 2007 in Mainpage and Featured. 0 Comments

Trash CanWe just sent a fax blast today to schools across Canada. You can click here if you are now looking for more information about our motivational experience.

For this advertising campaign we wanted to try a different approach- addressing a nice cover page to the secretary (a.k.a “most influential person in the school”) to get them to sweeten up to us and pass on the info to the proper contact. If nothing else, hopefully they get a bit of a chuckle out of it. We thought we would take this route so that the school will realize that it is a legitimate fax before tossing it in the trash.

We find that in sending faxes and making phone calls to schools that is really easy to get mistaken for telemarketers or solicitors and to be treated coldly because of that. We are now trying to get across to schools that it is actually the opposite: as a non-profit we are financially giving a lot more to schools than we are receiving (see pricing here) . Like most educators, we do what we do because we care about students and believe in them - enough so that we a willing to send the odd “junk” fax to a school to be able to reach more of them with a message of hope.

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Miss Canada Scholarship Joins Absolute

Published by absolute May 25th, 2007 in Team 1, Road Team Blogs and Featured. 1 Comment

Kristen ParsonsWe were very privileged to have Kristen Parsons, Miss Canada Scholarship 2006, join us for our last week of tour in Manitoba! Miss Canada Scholarship is a competition run by Canada Pageants. Honestly we were a little skeptical when we first approached by Canada Pageants last year, because we thought that having a “Beauty Queen” might be contrary to our message on inner-value. However, we sooned learned that this was much different that a typical beauty contest. Continue reading ‘Miss Canada Scholarship Joins Absolute’

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Major Pratt School: The best show of its kind!

Published by absolute May 23rd, 2007 in QQ, MB, Testimonials and Featured. 0 Comments

Major Pratt School Reference LetterTo Whom It May Concern:

I am pleased to be able to offer a letter of support, praise and endorsement for the Absolute Leadership Development school assembly presentation.

As a small school, our funds for bringing in professional presentations for our students are limited. For this reason, we must be very prudent when it comes to booking performers, speakers and other assembly professionals. We hope that all of our bookings will show a maximum of value for the money we pay.

I can state categorically that the Absolute Leadership presentation was ‘absolutely’ the best presentation of its kind that we have ever had at our school. Continue reading ‘Major Pratt School: The best show of its kind!’

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