..one child at a time

During the last week, several of us have had the amazing opportunity to collaborate with Tim Horton's Children Foundation and work with the Ted Nolan Foundation. This foundation promotes healthy lifestyles and supports aboriginal youth. For the third year in a row they have had a youth leadership camp take place at Tim Horton's Onondaga Farms. As a class we had the opportunity to work as counselors with the youth there. Personally I only had the opportunity to have 2 days there with everyone, but even in two days, it is incredible the amount you can learn. Meeting the youth who have already been through so much and deal with so many things is very powerful. They strength and loyalty they demonstrate is amazing for their age. I always come away from any camp experience feeling very very blessed.
As a college program we also were involved in camp in March 2011. Again we were able to be counselors for kids age 8-12 that were sponsored through camp day and all of the Tim Horton's store locations. All of this experiences have been incredible and really show how camp can make a difference in child's lives. Tim Horton's Children Foundation really does try to better the lives of children everywhere so that they learn leadership skills and take all of the abilities home with them and carry it with them for the rest of their lives. Camp has become something really close to me and a place where I always feel at home.
Buy your camp day coffees! It makes a difference :)
These videos really show the impact that camp has to the lives of young people.

enjoy!
dory (fh)

what plans YOUR social life?

Recent class discussions have been about social media, and how it affects the lives of young people today. How will you decide what you are going to do over the weekend? What decides what you do, and who you do it with?
I would say that most of us can agree that we use various forms of social media to decide what we do with our leisure time. I personally hear about a lot of events and things going on from friends on Facebook which then makes me think about it and want to attend. I often don't hear about things on the radio or by other websites. So when things are published on social media sites, I hear about them more quickly! Even music groups today are putting all of their tour dates on Facebook as events which connects a huge amount of people to that event. Even if you have not 'liked' a page, that event will still come up on your page if a friend clicks 'attending' or 'not attending' on it. This create a huge connection between otherwise unconnected people.
I will especially be more motivated to attend something when I see that a friend has decided to go as well. Knowing who you are trying to reach is very important when deciding how to market events, different people means different methods!
So, what about you? How will you decide what to do this weekend?

fh

Flash mobs part 2

Over the last 2 weeks, we as a class have been planning a flash mob for the Waterloo Region Food-bank.  This flash mob was planned to kick off their annual thanksgiving food drive and took place in 3 different grocery stores around the area.
Again, a flash mob is an interesting marketing strategy that is becoming more and more popular among many organizations. (See the variety of T-mobile flash mobs.) Flash mobs create an interesting buzz that spreads quickly in the local community. Our flash mob in fact is already on Youtube, and appeared in the Waterloo Record, and on CTV. (See timestamp 15:25)
Throughout the planning process we had a few discussions that came up regarding how exactly this would be marketing the food bank, since dancing doesn't really have anything to do with a food drive! We had multiple discussions back and forth about what would promote the food bank without taking away from the real effect of the flash mob. Our main decision we had to make was about t-shirts. Generally, flash mobs look random, with all different people joining in, and that is the whole purpose of them! But the food bank was very strong about pushing us to wear their gold colour t-shirts so we would be more noticeable as to who we were associated with. As students we did not want to take away from the effect of the flash mob but also wanted to make sure the food bank was happy with the result. We came to a good compromise, and it turned out great!
Stay tuned for more rec and leisure fun!
fh

thoughts on flash mobs and other cool things

Over the last 3 weeks of the semester we have being doing a lot of work and research surrounding flash mobs. We have been learning what they are and what the purpose of them is.

The amount of work that goes into the organization of a flash mob that may only last for 2-3 minutes says a lot about how much the organizers think the overall message of the flash mob is. Although flash mobs can be developed or planned for no particular reason and just for entertainment value, most of them are planned for a reason.
Many company's/organizations may plan events like these for publicity for their organization. Because of the spontaneity and entertainment of flash mobs, individuals will remember for example, the 'T-mobile' flash mobs. Flash mobs could be initiated by a small group or individual who may go to organizations for sponsorship and assistance. A flash mob may be to promote a cause or particular issue. A popular motivation for flash mobs may be the promotion of health and fitness.
Involvement in the Hula hoop Flash mob in Waterloo on September 18th was very interesting and gave us a lot of information about the organization and planning of a flash mob. We learned to expect the unexpected and so we are working on a 'how to' guide on creating flash mobs. Now we know for next time! ;) Stay tuned for more exciting things to come!
fh