Paint-A-Thon may be months away but nonetheless, the team is super excited and we’re already getting ready to go! Power Unit Youth Organization (PUYO) has chosen the official beneficiary for our events in 2012. This year, the funds raised through this initiative will go towards the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Canada. This organization aims to grant the wishes of children who suffer from life threatening medical conditions, and to enrich their lives with hope, strength and joy.

The first Make-A-Wish Canadian chapter was established in B.C. in 1983 after Nigel Brown and Robb Lucy heard about the launch of Make-A-Wish in the United States. At the time, a 13 year old girl named Debbie was suffering from Leukemia and her only wish was to visit her grandparents in Germany. In order to grant her wish, Nigel paid for Debbie’s trip with his personal credit card. Although she was sick, she had a wonderful time re-connecting with her family in Germany.

With the heart-warming completing of their first wish, the small group of friends recruited more friends and soon the first chapter of Make-A-Wish in Canada was off and running. To date, there have been 4,390 wishes granted to children all across the country. With your help, PUYO anticipates granting many more wishes to children across Canada.

We said last time that we weren’t staying still - the Paint-A-Thon team has already started planning for next year! And we are as pumped up as ever!

But before that, we would like to extend our gratitude to Free The Children (FTC) for partnering up with us as our official beneficiary this year. FTC is an organization that aims to help Third World countries break from poverty and exploitation by bringing quality education to all children, local and international.

As promised, a portion of Paint-A-Thon’s proceeds are going directly to the Kenya project, in regards to educational programming, alternative income projects, water and sanitation projects, and many more. It was such an honour to have collaborated with FTC, an organization who shares a similar vision and passion as Power Unit Youth Organization (PUYO); to empower youth engagement and commitment to give back to the community. We would like to offer a big thank you to FTC.

Soon after Paint-A-Thon has come to an end, our team members met up for numerous meetings and get-togethers to discuss about how the event turned out, what went well and what needed improvements. So don’t forget to keep up with us as we are sure to bring you guys more exciting and new events!

FTC Blog: http://www.freethechildren.com/blog/2011/09/paint-a-thon.php