Students at Ridley College taking Grade 9 Civics recently participated in the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative. YPI is a grant based program where students research local, grassroots, social service organizations.  The students visit the site and interview the charity workers and those who benefit from the organization and then create a 10 minute presentation about the organization and how a grant would help it achieve its mission and better serve its clients.  A $5,000.00 grant is awarded to the group that is the best advocate for their charity.  The grant is made possible by Toskan Casale Foundation. Six groups became finalists out of all the Civics classes at Ridley and presented to family, classmates and a panel of judges last night in the Ross Morrow Theatre.  Some of the charitable organizations founders also watched the presentations making it an extra special experience.  All of the presentations were unique, and featured everything from videos, to powerpoint, and even a song.   The students were certainly passionate about their chosen charity and that truly came across in their presentations.  The Red Roof Retreat group made up of Carlos Alvarez Sierra, Peter Holenski, Arturs Pavlovs, and Jason Bell was awarded the $5,000.00 grant. Red Roof Retreat is a charity that helps disabled children and their families. Their presentation featured personal stories from each of the students about their experience volunteering with the children at Red Roof. They also presented a song with a slideshow of pictures from their time at Red Roof.  All of the students should be very proud of their presentation.  To get a sense of what YPI is about view some video highlights from the presentations:

For more information about YPI visit: http://www.goypi.org/CA/index.php