Archive for the 'Hero Holiday' 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 .

Press Release: Absolute launches character education initiative, sponsors services to Canadian schools

Published by absolute May 23rd, 2008 in Press Releases, Faculty Site, Newsletter, Student Zone, Hero Holiday and Mainpage. Closed

Think Day LogoHamilton, ONTARIO - May 23, 2008 - Absolute Leadership Development, Canada’s leading student empowerment organization, is a charity that has been partnering with Canadian schools since 2001. Their “Motivational Experience” - a hard hitting mixture of young speakers, multimedia and music - was the most popular motivational assembly amongst Canadian schools. Building upon the success of this presentation, Absolute is launching a new program called Think Day. Remaking the popular one hour motivational presentation with cutting-edge MakeYouThink® character education curriculum, Think Day will also give schools the option of adding workshops and global awareness sessions to create a comprehensive motivational program that will have lasting results in student’s lives. All of Think Day’s content is suitable for both Catholic and public schools.

“We look forward to increasing the effectiveness of our motivational teams, and we believe these additions will do just that”, says Vaden Earle, CEO of Absolute Leadership Development. “Our goal is to continue to inspire this generation with a relevant message that their lives have purpose and value”

The workshops and leave behind video curriculum are designed to facilitate discussion between students on issues that are fundamental to them. Global awareness sessions have a huge impact on the perspective students have of not only the world, but their own lives as well. Together, the package is a vital tool for schools that want their motivational and character education efforts to have a lasting impact.

The incredible news for schools is that in conjunction with the launch of Think Day, Absolute is fully sponsoring their services (that other organizations charge over $5000 for) with a donation based model of payment, so that all schools, regardless of budget or demographic, will be able to take advantage of the best student empowerment opportunity in North America.

Absolute is accepting bookings for the 2008-2009 school year and can be reached at www.thinkday.org or 1-866-432-4464

Click here for promotional brochure PDF! http://thinkday.org/thinkday.pdf

Fundraising with ONE

Published by vaden November 13th, 2007 in Press Releases, Faculty Site, ONE, Newsletter, Hero Holiday, Student Zone and Mainpage. Closed

We are so excited about the potential of this book to spark social awareness that we would like to offer a unique opportunity. Individuals or groups that are engaged in charitable fundraising, can now purchase bulk quantities of ONE: A Face Behind the Numbers, at wholesales prices and resell them. This is a great way to raise money for Hero Holiday trips or to help build a school or home in a developing nation. Now is a great time to start this, as you can take pre-orders for people who are doing Christmas shopping. This makes a GREAT GIFT! The book will be shipped in time for Christmas. Please go here for more info: http://one.absolute.org/the-cause

Book Release - ONE: A Face Behind The Numbers

Published by admin November 11th, 2007 in Faculty Site, Student Zone and Hero Holiday. Closed

Absolute has some exciting news. Our book is done!
ONE: A Face Behind The Numbers
Written by our CEO, Vaden Earle, ONE: A Face Behind The Numbers, takes eleven chapters, and illuminates the injustices of the humanitarian crisis. Including statistics, real-life stories, and striking photography; bringing the numbers to life.
“So many of us here in the western […]

...continue reading

Danica: How we all fell in Love

Published by christal August 2nd, 2007 in Staff Blogs, Faculty Site, Newsletter, Hero Holiday and Mainpage. Closed

I only know her first name: Danica. She was 18 months old, abandoned, and a Haitian child of parents with no country of origin, living in Dominican Republic. She was stateless, and no one knew she existed.
I had only heard her cry once, and had never seen her give any response to anyone. My friends, Phil and Donna, had found her in a house where she had been left alone for up to 8 hours a day because her mother had abandoned her and her father was in another part of the country working. He had people watching her, but he was no where to be found.
Absolute had decided that we would adopt her and we would commit to her medical and personal care. She was unable to walk or talk, and was very sick from a urinary tract infection that had been left untreated for weeks, perhaps months, on end. We had taken pictures of her and we were all excited (more…)

Now He Knows His Name!

Published by christal July 31st, 2007 in Faculty Site, Newsletter, Hero Holiday and Mainpage. Closed

DSC_7141.JPG Some of you reading this blog may remember my story about the little boy at the garbage dump that I found that told me he couldn’t remember what his name was that his mother called him. He was an orphan and had been without parents for more than 7 years. He was at the dump that day because he often came there looking for food and to collect bottles to get some form of income (less than 25 cents a day).

As our truck pulled once more into the village (more…)

NiagaraThisWeek.com: Article: Youth challenged to get involved in global community

Published by absolute June 15th, 2007 in Faculty Site, Press, Student Zone, Hero Holiday and Mainpage. Closed

NiagaraThisWeek.com: Article: Youth challenged to get involved in global community

By Scott Rosts
West Lincoln
Jun 15, 2007

SMITHVILLE — Christal Earle wants youth to know they can make a difference.

The co-founder of Absolute Leadership Development, a Hamilton-based charity that encourages hundreds of students to engage in humanitarian relief work, says youth need to understand that they can follow their “dream of what (they) want to be and do”. Earle recently visited South Lincoln High School in Smithville to spread her message during an assembly presented by the Youth for Change.

“You and I can make a difference,” Earle told the students and special guests from organizations such as Grimsby Life Centre and International Justice Mission.

After a tumultuous time during her youth growing up in Saskatchewan, Earle said one day she decided she wanted “something more”. Looking around the world today and some of the global issues such as aids orphans and children dieing from starvation, Earle said her and her husband Vaden “decided we wanted to do something about it”.

From there, Hero Holiday was born. The program provides opportunities for high school students to participate in a humanitarian relief project by bringing practical assistance to those living in extreme poverty. Activities include everything from building homes to distributing supplies to working with children at risk. Last year they even built a school.

“People like you and me are going to Third World countries and making a difference,” said Earle.

The stories, she admits, are touching and their outlook on life changes as they see first-hand what people living in other parts of the world go through.

In 2005, the first year of Hero Holiday, about 180 students went to work with Haitian refugees in the Dominican Republic. She said the refugees lived in a garbage dump, a site that “blows your mind”. She warned the students to ensure they wore their shoes while spending the two hours with their refugees there, so they would remain safe while walking through the dump. When the time was over, she noticed one student wasn’t wearing their shoes. She looked around and discovered none of the students had their shoes anymore.

“Every one of the students that day gave their own shoes off their feet to the refugees living there,” she said. “They made a difference.”

Earle challenged students to get involved and “make a difference”. She said programs like Hero Holiday are an “invaluable opportunity” to show how lives can change and provide “brand new beginnings” for those in impoverished countries.

Opportunities exist this summer, she said, with Hero Holiday. Upcoming trips include the Dominican and Mexico. Information on the organization can be found at http://heroholiday.absolute.org.

“You will never regret it,” she said of the experiences.

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