"Never before in the history of the world has the world needed changing more than it does now. We will go down in history as the generation that changed the world"

Free The Children

Free The Children is the worlds largest organization of children helping children through education and community service. More than 1 million young people in 41 countries have been impacted by their programs. Their Leaders Today program is the number one student leadership program in the world.

Dreams for Kids is extremely proud to be a supporter and partner in world change with our Canadian brothers and sisters of Free the Children.

Using Free The Children's magnificent Leaders Today model and adding the Dreams for Kids mission of recognizing and celebrating people of all abilities, we have created the Dream Leaders Program.

The Mission

"One day our descendants will think it incredible that we paid so much attention to things like the amount of melanin in our skin or the shape of our eyes or our gender instead of the unique identities of each of us as complex human beings."

~ Frankin Thomas

One of the powerful lessons dolphins have taught us it they rarely use their eyes to see. Instead they choose to use advanced sonar, four times more powerful than an MRI, to see a person from the inside.

Bringing together young people of all abilities, from every race, religion, gender, and socio- economic background, allowing them the opportunity early in life to see past any perceived differences among them and to enjoy opportunities which recognize and appreciate our common humanity.

Long before walls can be built, prejudices can be formed and isolation can result, we are creating opportunities which inspire youth to work together and to lead together.

We believe, as those in Free The Children do, that this is the generation we have been waiting for. We are committed to reminding them they can achieve greatness today and to empowering them to fearlessly pursue their dreams and compassionately change the world.

The Program

"Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity."

~ Pema Chodron

Within the public and private sectors of local and world communities, Dream for Kids is working in schools and youth organizations in partnership with government and social agencies. We are bringing young people of all abilities together in small groups for the purpose of reinforcing the lessons learned from the classroom, building leadership skills and to serve the local and world communities.

Creating cooperative projects which serve the local and world community connect our youth to others in a way which encourages compassion for those who are both close to home and also a world apart from their daily lives.

While practicing skills such as organizing meetings, letter writing, public speaking, team building and different ability awareness, the Dream Leaders become active members of the community.

By reaching out to their peers in developing countries, Dream Leaders become involved in global issues and learn to become true citizens of the world.

Just a small sample of the hundreds of ways that our Dream Leaders are serving the local and world communities: