(Mob)ilizers

Fleeting Fall...

2011-11-09T15:13:24Z

Fall is quickly passing us by, and along with it a busy month of October, followed by an even busier November.October saw pumpkin patches, corn mazes, falling leaves and many successful (Mob)ilizer events, including the worldwide campaign Halloween for Hunger. As an entire (Mob)ilizer community, last year we raised over 19,000 food items which is pretty incredible. This year, we blew last year's total completely out of the water -- we saw an increase of 302%!!!!!! The FTC (Mob)ilizers raised **drumroll please** 57,396 items of food! This number is so incredibly amazing; BaseCamp and the entire FTC Office is so proud of you all. Kevin and I did a little skit in the Free The Children Meeting yesterday morning to show the incredible work that you guys did, and everyone was blown away by your enthusiasm and persistence, so keep it up!

So back to this whole crazy month of November -- Silent Cities, and Vow of Silence is upon us! All across Canada FTC (Mob)ilizers will be standing in solidarity for Silent Cities. The power we have as entire movement is so inspiring, and when we all come together for campaigns like Silent Cities you can really feel how connected the FTC (Mob)ilizer family really is.

If you are wondering where the closest Silent Cities demonstration is near you, or just want to see where they are all happening all over Canada, check out this link to the FTC Vow of Silence page. croll down to the map and click on the markers to see where Silent Cities is happening across Canada. If you are in the Toronto area, be sure to check out the incredible Silent Cities Toronto demonstration on Sunday, November 13th @ Yonge and Dundas Square from 11:00am-1:30pm. Then join the incredible Silent Cities Discussion featuring We Day Speakers at the Me to We Store from 2-4pm.

Have you seen the newest Vow of Silence Video? It is so epic and gives me chills every time I see it. Check it out! Get involved, and take the Vow on November 30th!

Peace, Love and changing the world one silent voice at a time,

Gabby & BaseCamp

Here we go again!

2011-09-02T18:01:09Z

Where did this summer go? It seems like just yesterday that June was just getting started, and we were all preparing for the summer months ahead full of Trips, Academies, and many other adventures. Speaking of Trips, our MOB Trips were a huge success, as were the other Me to We trips that many of you embarked upon! I have heard crazy stories from the summer of parrots stealing pancakes from a breakfast plate, a giant Great Dane named 'Don', to hilarious Bollywood Lessons.

Academy also had so many memories, from Paula and Sue's delicious food (if you ever need anything catered, seriously check out Two Dishes), to the Academy Cheer to serenading a particular 'zorse' named 'Teresa' (who also took quite the beating over the summer-but not to worry she's all fixed up!). We had many amazing speakers at Academy over the summer including Blake Fly and people from Free the Children, but we also were introduced to two amazing guys who will be biking across Canada-from the lowest point of elevation to the highest. Quite ambitious, but extremely impressive! What's even more amazing is that they will be supporting Free the Children, so keep an eye out for that. For now you can check out their website by clicking here: Great Canadian Ascent.

I hope you all had a fantastic summer, but are excited for the fall and upcoming year! Toronto We Day is just around the corner

and is sure to be a phenomenal day of inspiration, excitement and neon-wearing crowd pumping! Check out the new We Day Dance: become an expert and then teach it to anyone and everyone!

We are working on our final list for General (Mob)ilizers and we can't wait to send that out and welcome you all officially to the (Mob)ilizer Family! With all of you fantastic individuals heading up change in your cities, it is bound to be an epic year! Basecamp can't wait to hear all about your ideas from Kick-Off, and how you plan to tackle the year ahead!

Peace, Love and only 25 days left to get decked out in neon,

Gabby & Basecamp

And they're off....

2011-07-19T13:33:13Z

Are you wondering what you can do this summer to continue you involvement with the MOB?

Here are some awesome ways to get involved...

MOB Academy still has slots open for any youth interested in attending. MOB Academy runs August 14th - 20th and its going to be a real hoot!
APPLY for this years MOB! General applications are now up so simply click here and begin a new year of Mobilizing extravaganza!! :)

Read this years (MOB)ilizer annual report! MOB Annual Report FINAL.pdf
Read all about the immense change that we, as a movement, have created together.

Lastly today marked a pretty epic day for some of our rock star (MOB)ilizers. This morning, 21 (MOB)ilizers set out on a journey of a life time to Ecuador! Look how happy they are!

Rock on,

Steph

It's Friday...we we we so excited!

2011-07-08T22:17:35Z

It's been awhile since our last post, and so much has happened! First, Zoom-Snap-Click...Change is going on now! Thank you SO much to all the teams who registered. We had 31 teams register which is $620!! We have teams from all over Canada and even a team from Dallas, it really demonstrates the power of an online campaign/event. I am so impressed with all of you, and can't wait to see the pictures!

It's official! We have 31 MOB Cities for the 2011-2012 year!! The MOB truly is a growing movement and it's all because of you passionate people. Your enthusiasm and excitement is contagious and people are catching on about how awesome it is to be part of this incredible movement. Speaking of...it's finally time! General (Mob)ilizer applications are now available. Follow this link to the application! If your city is not listed, not to worry we have lots planned this upcoming year for those of you in remote areas.

Click here to apply!!

As many of you know, The Mob has moved from Me to We to Free the Children! It's a great opportunity for us and provides us with more resources and access o even more youth across Canada and the US! With this switchover, BaseCamp has relocated, we are now in the basement of the Free the Children building. The past few days we have been decorating and making our new space pretty cozy!

Get excited! The new Mob year is finally here and we are stoked to see all of your applications and get the year underway!!

Peace, Love and get those applications in,

Gabby and BaseCamp

Zoom-Snap-Click...Change

2011-06-10T19:51:05Z

Pictures, photos, snapshots, Polaroid's, and videos! Do you have your camera ready? Are you ready to take some crazy pictures all over your hometown? That's right....BaseCamp has decided to launch their very own fundraiser to get (Mob)ilizers and friends involved from ALL over the country! We have been working on a list of some crazy photographs that we are stoked to see you all complete!! The way it will work is each team will have four members, with a max of TWO (Mob)ilizers per team. Each team will submit an entry fee of $20 (so only $5 per person), which will be then donated to one of the Free the Children projects! What's the incentive you ask?! Well let me tell you! Once all the photos are submitted, BaseCamp will evaluate them based on a points system. The team with the most points will be awarded a dinner for their team in THEIR hometown-that's at least an $80 value for your donation of only $5!! Pretty good deal if you ask me!!!

The Photo Scavenger Hunt details are all posted on Facebook in our event page Zoom-Snap-Click...Change with everything you need to know on how to enter your team and when you can start capturing the perfect pictures! But for now, here's a hint...

BaseCamp is looking for a few people to help us out with outreach to get as many people involved as possible! We are also looking for a couple guest judges who will help us in decide who is the winning team! If you are looking to get some experience in promoting events for next year this is a great way to learn some tips! If you are interested in either of these opportunities email me at gabby@metowe.com

On that note, check out the Facebook Event: Zoom-Snap-Click...Change, gather up 4 of your friends and get ready to take some crazy pictures!

Peace, Love and bust out those Kodaks!

Gabby

Hangouts, and Plays, and Sporcle, Oh My!

2011-05-26T21:42:12Z

As many of you know, we have a great event coming up tomorrow night (Friday, May 27^th) at the Me to We store from 5pm-9pm! This will be a chance for you all to come together and meet up, and have a great night together! The night will consist of some bonding time, introductions and looking to the next MOB Year! It'll be a great time filled with mad MOB lovin' so be sure to try your hardest to make it out!

We also have another great opportunity coming up! We have scored some tickets for the play "The Railway Children" from some of our generous FTC supporters! BaseCamp has decided that it would be great if we could some of us could meet up and go together as a great mini-social event. The date we've chosen to go is Thursday, June 2, 2011 @ 7:30pm. The play is at the Roundhouse Theatre in downtown Toronto. If you want to join BaseCamp in this great night shoot me an email by Monday, May 30, 2011 by 5:00pm so I can get your name down!

If you live outside of the GTA and aren't able to attend either of these events, don't feel left out! We haven't forgotten about any of you! We have a great summer event coming up that will allow every single one of you to participate, no matter where you are in the country, or the world for that matter! More details to come (we want to keep it a surprise after all!), but get your camera's ready!

A few of you have been emailing in questions about when MOB Applications will become available so here is a mini update for you all. MOB Leadership Applications will become available around June 1^st, and will be due approximately two weeks after they are posted. The MOB General Applications will become available around July 5^th, and won't be due until early September.

One last thing, have any of you heard of 'Sporcle'? BaseCamp has become a tad obsessed with random trivia lately so we decided to see how we would do on a "Countries of the World" quiz. Kev, Dana and I had a bit of a mini competition for a brief 4 minutes (you are given 15minutes but we stopped after 4), and needless to say, I really need to brush up on my geography! Kevin triumphed both of us with a whopping 61 out of 195, Dana trailed with 41 and I sadly only could come up with 38! How many can you get in 4 minutes? Try it out and let us know!

Can't wait to see and meet a bunch of you tomorrow night, at the "The Railway Children" play and get you all involved in our upcoming summer spectacle!

Peace, love and Sporcle on,

Gabby.

Tell me what you want, what you really, really want!

2011-05-17T20:41:14Z

As you can tell from the title of this post, I want to know what you all want from us here at BaseCamp! So what is it that I want from you? Well, what I really want to know is what you would like us to focus on for the upcoming MOB Academy! Perhaps you had a great idea during one of the campaigns your MOB City did this year that would have made things easier, or you want to share something that really benefited your MOB that would be great for other MOBs to know! Maybe you have a workshop idea, a good team building activity or just something general that you would like to get out of Academy; any of it and all of it- I want it all!

MOB Academy is all about developing your leadership skills and making sure you have the tools you need to have a successful year full of MOB events! We want to provide you with information that you will find most useful, and the only way to do this is by hearing from you! Email me with any special requests you might have at gabby@metowe.com

As I am sure you have assumed from the nature of this post, the planning stages for MOB Academy are in full swing and it is making all of us here at BaseCamp extremely jacked! It's going to be an awesome week and I, for one, am already counting down the days!

Remember MOB Academy is from August 21-August 27, 2011 and registration ends on July 15^th! You can get your application here, and mail it in to us at BaseCamp!

Email me with your ideas, requests and suggestions! I will be checking my inbox eagerly, waiting for your emails!!

Peace, love and the countdown begins: 96 days til Academy,

Gabby

A day in the life.

2011-05-13T16:59:46Z

Today, Gabby and I ventured out to Acton, Ontario, for the final presentations of the Youth and Philanthrophy Initiative at Acton District High School. Groups of students there went into the community, found local charities or social services, then brought what they learned back to their fellow classmates, in the form of a 10 minute group presentation. The prize? $5000 for the group that best represented the charity or social service they presented on. The award ended up going to Our Kids Network: the Acton Community Hub, after a fantastic presentation by a group of grade 10 students. Interested in learning more about the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative? Check out their website.

Tonight, BaseCamp is heading down to Hamilton for Hamilton for Haiti: Music with a Mission. We're super excited to see some great artists, connect with the Hamilton (Mob)ilizers, and have a fantastic night! Watch for a full recap on the night next week.

My First Week as a MOB Coordinator!

2011-05-06T14:35:39Z

Hello to all you Mobilizers out there!

My name is Gabby and I am the newest addition to the (Mob)ilizer Coordination team here at Me to We! Dana, Kevin and I thought it would be a great idea for me to give a run down on my first week in the office so you can come along on my new journey! But first, I will give you a bit of a background on myself.

I am from Kitchener, Ontario and a recent graduate from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. I studied Environmental Studies and Communication Studies, but school was definitely not the only thing that I focused on. While at Laurier I was really involved with Student Activities throughout the Student Union. I was a coordinator for a charity council called L.U.C.K. (Laurier University Charity Kouncil), and we worked with various causes to raise funds and awareness for them while providing an activity for the student body (things like Murder Mysteries, Charity Auctions, Blood Donor Clinics and Bucal Swabs). I was also really involved with Orientation Week, from being an Icebreaker (Frosh Leader) and working my way up to planning the week for 4,000 first year students and directly leading a group of 64 Icebreakers and over 1000 First Year Students! Aside from school and those extra-curriculars, I am super passionate about environmental causes, as well as social issues, which brings me to Me to We and the MOB! After being here for just a few days I already can't wait until I can begin meeting you all!

So onto how my first week was all about...

]]> Monday, what an amazing day! It was the start of a new chapter of my life and I was so excited for it to all get going! The day got started right away with a big Free the Children meeting, where I got to hear about the different departments and their updates, as well as introduce myself to all of them! The next step was getting a tour of all the buildings! And let me tell you, if you haven't had the chance to visit the offices, there are so many of them! Free The Children and Me to We basically takes over the street, it's pretty impressive! On this tour, I was set up with my new email account which leads me to my next exciting point of the day...an email from Craig himself! Now this may not seem like a pretty big deal as it was just a few sentences but as someone who hasn't had the privilege of hearing him speak before, and now as I am really getting to know his story and how he started Free The Children, it was really neat and extremely welcoming! Definitely won't be deleting that email anytime soon (more like saving it to my hard drive!).

The rest of the day was a whirlwind of Me to We background information and a breakdown of the MOB to understand more about the organization and what it's all about! This included a year breakdown-kind of like the calendar that you most of you saw from the past year. I also learned about the MOB villages which you all support, which I think is pretty cool. You all have a link to a different village, but at the same time that brings some of you together-like Muskoka and Vancouver as you both work to support Berna, India! You may be all over the country, but little things like that make you seem closer to each other and bridges that gap! The day wrapped up with a Me to We meeting, Free The Children's sister organization, which was great!

Tuesday was more learning about MOB Academy in August, and getting the low down on all the applications that you wonderful people will be sending in this summer. I can't wait to put the faces to the names when I am lucky enough to meet you all!

Day three of my new adventure started off with a meeting with Kevin to get a 411 on all the Mob Cities! I now know a bunch of different facts about each of the MOB cities and the different events and campaigns that you guys put together, as well as what you're interested in! I am THE MOST impressed with all of your work! It's incredible to say the least; you guys are truly making a difference and are making such an impact in your communities and outside them as well! Aside from that the day mostly consisted of talking with our MOB Director, Erin, and getting an extensive history on the MOB.

Thursday brought a lot of brainstorming of different things, as well as attending a 'Lunch and Learn' that was hosted at the Me to We Store. We viewed a really powerful documentary called "The End of Poverty?" The film was about how the impacts of colonialism which occurred centuries ago are still being felt today, specifically in developing nations. There was a big focus on the current economic status of developed and developing countries, and how this is a predominant factor in the continuation of poverty around the globe. Overall, it was a bit depressing with very little mention of success stories. So if you do take a gander at this film, take it to heart, but don't think that there are not any success stories out there!

The last day of my first week has arrived! I can't believe it's already here, feels like Monday was just yesterday! My biggest thing on the agenda for today (Friday) was to start working on some amazing things we have planned for MOB Academy! Since I have never been, I may be in the same boat as some of you, and am not too sure what to expect! But not to worry, BaseCamp has lots of initiatives planned to get you guys in the loop and to keep you super informed about what to expect! So make sure to stay tuned to the Facebook profile and pages, and the MOB website for some exciting things coming up regarding MOB Academy! I can't wait for it because it will be my first chance to meet a bunch of you, which I am already looking forward to since you are such an amazing group of human beings!

I hope you all enjoyed following me in my adventure of a first week here in the Me to We office, and like I said, stay tuned and I hope to meet you soon!

Peace, Love and new adventures!

Who's leading our MOB Trips this year?

2011-04-05T14:27:01Z

We're finally able to announce the facilitators for our MOB Trips this summer! Are you ready?

Leading our first trip to India, from July 3-24, is our fearless MOB Manager Dana, along with BaseCamp alumni, and all around amazing human being, Jobin. Having traveled there before, Dana is incredibly excited to go back, especially with a group of (Mob)ilizers. As you may know, Jobin has been living in India for the past couple months, and also was one half of our facilitation team for last year's MOB Trip to Berna, India. For our second MOB trip to India, running from July 21-August 12, we have the extraordinary Brittnei, who is also leading a trip to Kenya this summer. Joining her is the amazing Anto, comedic genius and all around great guy.

What about Ecuador, you ask? Well, if there was any question, we're going to have Ms. Ecuador herself, the lovely Kelsi. She has been there so many times this year she's almost eligible for her Ecuadorian passport. Along side her we're also sending Kevin. You read it here first - the Road Tour Dream Team is being reunited in South America.

We want you to join us in India and Ecuador this summer, but time is running out! We need you to apply by April 15! Email Dana for more information, or call her at (416) 965-8942 x592.

I Am Campaign

2011-03-29T16:00:00Z

For the Me to We (Mob)ilizers, who we are comes out of the issues we are passionate about. Across the globe, we are united with people who are fighting for the same causes as us.

In Berna, India; Llullin Totoras, Ecuador; and Terre Cassée, Haiti, (Mob)ilizers are working alongside three communities to see their common convictions become a reality. By sharing their stories with ours, by fighting for the same dreams, we are Berna, Llullin Totoras, Terre Cassée. Together, we are the MOB.

We want you to post your own I Am video: by yourself, in a group, with your MOB, whatever you want! Tell us which country you are, and what issue you're passionate about. Posting on Facebook? Tag the MOB Facebook profile in the video, so we can keep track, or post your own video response on YouTube. Let's get tweeting too, using the hashtag #MOBiam.

I Am Haiti.

I Am India.

I Am Ecuador.

We are the MOB.

Hello from Llullin Totoras, Ecuador!

2011-03-28T23:29:46Z

Juno Flash MOB

2011-03-28T20:21:34Z

Sometimes an opportunity comes along that's once in a lifetime, and when possible, we include as many of you as possible. This past Sunday was one of those times, when we were asked to flash mob the Juno Awards red carpet! Check out the video over on the CTV website.

Welcome

2011-03-28T20:19:03Z

Friends, followers, family members... welcome to our new home. It's been a long time in the works, but we hope the wait was worth it.

(Mob)ilizers, we at BaseCamp want this space to not only be ours, but yours. We want you contributing, commenting, sharing, tweeting, and interacting on this site. We'll be posting all of our updates here, and sending them out through Facebook, Twitter, and wherever else you want to see them.

Just like the MOB, we're continually adapting and changing. Pages for individual cities are coming very soon, along with minor tweaks and changes. Something you want to see up here? Let us know. Like what we're doing or have an idea on how we can improve? Let us know.

Shine on,

BaseCamp