International charity and educational partner Free The Children, in partnership with Title sponsors Cheerios, Green Giant and Yoplait, announced the second group of names joining the star-studded lineup set to inspire 18,000 students who have earned their way through service to attend the first-ever We Day Minnesota at the Xcel Energy Center on October 8.
Sharing their passion for change, international experiences and energizing the crowd with unforgettable performances will be multi-platinum, chart-topping artists the Jonas Brothers and Carly Rae Jepsen along with renowned speakers including Barbara Pierce Bush, award-winning actress and activist Mia Farrow, international activists and Free The Children co-founders, Craig and Marc Kielburger. Also joining via Skype for an important message will be award-winning singer-songwriter and Free The Children ambassador, Demi Lovato.
Considering We Day has been called the Super Bowl for service, the event’s all-star roster will fittingly include NFL players from the Minnesota Vikings and other local dignitaries and personalities, including We Day co-chairs and siblings, Dean Phillips and Hutton Phillips, the Governor of Minnesota, Mark Dayton, Minnesota Commissioner of Education, Brenda Cassellius, Mayor of St. Paul, Chris Coleman, Jack Jablonski and spoken word poet and rapper Dessa.
In the year of the 50th anniversary of his father’s memorable I Have a Dream speech, an exciting addition to the lineup is human rights advocate Martin Luther King III, who will be speaking at all We Day events across North America in 2013.
Leading the electrified crowd as a co-host will be platinum selling artist and star of Disney’s Good Luck Charlie, Bridgit Mendler.
“I had the opportunity this past summer to participate with Free The Children’s communities in Kenya, and see first-hand the lasting impact that youth in North America are making through their charitable work,” said Joe Jonas from the Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum band the Jonas Brothers. “I understand what it means to these communities to have access to clean water and an education and I was thrilled to get involved by committing to help build two schools overseas with Free The Children. It may seem like a simple assignment to make one local and one global commitment, but these efforts fundamentally impact the lives of people around the world.”
We Day is a stadium-sized educational event and a movement of young people leading local and global change. We Day is tied to the year-long program, We Act, which supports students and educators with free educational resources, student-led campaigns and support materials to help turn the event’s inspiration into sustained activation. Since 2007, youth involved in the We Act program have raised $37 million dollars for over 1,000 local and global causes and logged more than 9.6 million volunteer hours.
The 2013/2014 We Day season will be the largest season to date. We Day will see more than 160,000 in attendance in 12 cities across North America, and internationally for the first time with We Day UK in spring 2014, truly making this a global movement for change.
We Day and the We Act program are free of charge to the thousands of students and educators in attendance at the event and state-wide, thanks to the generous support of sponsors led in Minnesota by Title Sponsors Cheerios, Green Giant and Yoplait along with other supporters, including Bremer Bank, the Otto Bremer Foundation, The Edward J. Phillips Family Foundation and the Carlson Family Foundation.
