O Ambassadors

Connecting Young People to Global Issues

O Ambassadors™ is an exciting new joint project of Oprah’s Angel Network and Free The Children that will inspire young people to become active, compassionate and knowledgeable global citizens. The school-based program connects young people in North America with people around the world to create lasting change by working toward the UN Millennium Development Goals—poverty related targets the world must meet by 2015.

A movement thousands strong

O Ambassadors belong to 2,000 active clubs across the U.S. and Canada. From as young as six-years-old all the way to 18, from Alaska down to Florida, they make up a diverse group of passionate young people.

Learning

Clubs learn about broad global issues like poverty through colorful activity books, an exclusive website and informative curriculum. They choose one of five world regions to explore in detail—West Africa, East
Africa, South Asia, East Asia or Latin America.

Action

Club members take big-time action to help their new friends overseas. They organize fundraising and awareness raising activities in their communities with the goal of contributing to Free The Children’s international development projects in their region. They also take action on domestic issues by getting involved in their local communities.

The impact

The hard work of O Ambassadors builds projects that have life-changing impacts for children and their communities in developing countries. From new schools to clean water projects to mobile health clinics, O Ambassadors are making a real difference through their work. Your support can help them do even more.

O Ambassador Club on Local News

Shepardson was excited to be selected by the O Ambassador program to have their "Roots of Action" tour visit our school. This speaking tour inspires young people to understand and care about the challenges facing youth around the world. Led by Louise Kent, an expert peer leader and motivational speaker, this dynamic presentation and workshop challenged our students to think critically about the world and the role they can play in making it a better place.

Last year, our Shepardson Helping Hands O Ambassador club raised over $5000 for Free the Children to support development projects in Latin America. Their hard work caught the attention of the local media. To learn more about their efforts and the "Roots of Action" tour that came to Shepardson, watch this story that aired on the Denver CBS news station.

http://cbs4denver.com/local/Shepardson.Elementary.o.2.874338.html

The Coloradoan also had a feature story about the O Ambassadors' work to get ready for Shepardson Gives 2008, a special event in which our community comes together to give to others. To read the article click the following link:

http://www.psdschools.org/schools/shepardson/students/downloads/ShepOClubNews_20081203.pdf

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Students Join "O Ambassadors" Club

Students at Shepardson Elementary are participating in the O Ambassadors program, a joint project of Oprah's Angel Network and Free The Children. These students are working towards the UN Millennium Development Goals, learning about global issues and making a tangible difference in the lives of their peers in the developing world.

They are part of a network of O Ambassadors clubs across North America that are working to find solutions to global challenges through active learning, idea-sharing and taking action. Through this program, youth in North America have the unique opportunity to develop leadership skills and become active and compassionate global citizens.

 “We are so excited to be a part of the O Ambassadors program and we’re proud to represent the voices of youth in Ft. Collins,” said Mary Kay Sommers, Shepardson Principal. “There are so many issues in our world that need our attention and our team is ready to show that youth in Ft. Collins care and want to make a difference in our world.”

Throughout the year, the Shepardson O Ambassadors Club will raise awareness about the importance of a holistic approach to development by focusing on the Millennium Development Goals. Every two months the club will focus on a different theme (poverty, education, health and sustainable development) in Latin America and organize fundraising and awareness-raising events for their school with the help of posters, how-to guides, regional guides and an Educator binder (with curricula). The O Ambassadors is lead by parent Shana Bode, and a team of Shepardson staff members.

The funds raised by students at Shepardson will go towards holistic development projects in Latin America. Clubs have the opportunity to choose the world regions they would like to research and support. These projects provide local children and their families with the tools they need to break the cycle of poverty. All projects will be carried out in partnership with local communities.

For more information, please visit www.oambassadors.org.

Helping Hands By Evan

Spring 2008

Oprah Winfery’s Angel Network and Free the Children got together and made a joint project that would show kids are never too young to change the world. Schools all over U.S.A. and Canada tried to get in this club. They called it O Ambassadors.....

Hi, my name is Evan and I would like to tell you more about the O Ambassador club at Shepardson (we named ourselves the Helping Hands). There are few schools in Colorado with this opportunity, and only about 1,000 clubs in the U.S.A. We are blessed.

I am sorry to say this, but as you are reading, someone in Latin America is dying because they do not have access to the basic needs they require to survive. That is what the O Ambassadors are changing. Also, world leaders got together to form the four Millennium Goals to work on poverty, healthcare, education, and sustainable development. That’s another thing we’re working on.

There are 31 wonderful kids in the Helping Hands Club. We set a goal to raise $5,000 and have raised $1,884 so far. We have also been working hard to raise awareness about things in the world that need to be changed. We reached our goal for the $2 a day fundraiser, so it was fun to watch Mrs. Stolte be turned into a human sundae! We hope you had fun at our fiesta night fundraiser where we celebrated the culture of Latin America. We also hope you learned something from our PowerPoint presentation and trivia questions.

Kim Plewes, our club’s Coordinator from Canada, came to visit us because of what a great job we are doing. She explained where the money we raise will be going in Ecuador. Also, the Superintendent (Dr. Wilson) came to our school because he was impressed with our work. Several Ambassadors and I gave a presentation about our club when he came. Dr. Wilson was inspired.

Free the Children was one of the organizations that started O Ambassadors. The person who started Free the Children was only 12 years old!!

You are never too young to change the world, and even if you aren't an O Ambassador, you’re still helping us. For our next fundraiser, we hope to involve the whole city of Fort Collins.

• O Ambassadors Club off to a Great Start
• O Ambassadors Raise Awareness About World Issues
• Join Us at Fiesta Night on March 7