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News Release (PDF 250 KB)
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - On Friday November 7 a remarkable event will take place in Saskatoon. Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (PotashCorp) is bringing We Day to Saskatchewan for the third time as regional title sponsor. We Day is a global series of stadium-sized youth empowerment events. This Friday We Day Saskatchewan will be attended by 15,000 students and educators at SaskTel Centre
We Day entertainers and speakers will share their passion for change and energize the crowd with performances and motivational speeches surrounding this year's theme of empowerment. Headlining the Saskatchewan event will be Lieutenant-General the Honourable Roméo Dallaire, singer and songwriter Nikki Yanofsky, award-winning rap artist and music producer Kardinal Offishall, recording artist Shawn Desman, and actress and social activist Marlee Matlin.
"PotashCorp is tremendously proud to bring We Day back to our province," said Denita Stann, Vice President, Investor and Public Relations. "We Day continues to be a highlight of the fall calendar for Saskatchewan's youth and educators, and we are thrilled to play a role in empowering our province's youth to make local and global change."
Youth can't buy a ticket to We Day. Young people earn tickets by taking on one local and one global action. One example is James L. Alexander School in Saskatoon where students fundraised for We Create Change to support Free The Children's Clean Water and Sanitation pillar throughout its Adopt a Village communities. This action brought the students to We Day in 2013.
"We Day Saskatchewan was great. The students left inspired and ready to really make an impact and a difference in their community and world," said educator Megan Baptist from James L. Alexander School. "We loved it all especially the children who went up to speak about their social justice actions and really showed our students that it is possible to make a change, regardless of age."
To further engage youth, PotashCorp has partnered with Free The Children and Me to We to provide an opportunity for 25 students with a high level of interest in food security to volunteer in a community overseas. The students learn firsthand about sustainable development and bring the spirit of global citizenship back to their schools and communities. In 2013 the youth volunteers travelled to Kenya and in 2014 to India.
Returning to Kenya in summer 2015, trip applications are open until April 6, 2015 to students - ages 13 to 19 - across Canada. Applicants will be selected based on personal interest, merit and a demonstrated commitment to food security issues. Please visit www.freethechildren.com/foodsecurity for more information. One PotashCorp-sponsored Me to We 2015 youth volunteer trip to Kenya will be given away to an audience member at We Day Saskatchewan.
We Day Saskatchewan streams live on Friday from 9 am CT at www.weday.com/watch. Photos are available at http://www.weday.com/saskatchewan-epk by 3:30 pm CT that day.
PotashCorp is the founding partner of the Agriculture and Food Security pillar of Free The Children's Adopt a Village development model. PotashCorp also directly supports six rural communities (two in Kenya, two in India and two in China) on sustainable agricultural initiatives.
The partnership between PotashCorp and Free The Children has already had some amazing results:
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Since 2012 the company has sponsored We Days nationally, and during that time, helped inspire over 240,000 students to make global and social change;
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Across rural Kenya, India and China, PotashCorp has helped deliver training on technical agriculture, food security skills and business strategies - approximately 11,400 community members have benefitted from this training;
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In the two Indian communities supported directly, improved farming practices have increased yields by an average of 44 percent;
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In Kenya and China, 93 percent of the people trained said their family's health had improved over the past year and 85 percent became more self-sufficient by increasing their income.
As the world's largest crop nutrient company, PotashCorp plays an integral role in global food production. The company produces the three essential nutrients required to help farmers grow healthier, more abundant crops. With global populations rising and diets improving in developing countries, crop nutrients such as potash, phosphates and nitrogen offer a responsible and practical solution to help produce the food we need, from the land we have.
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