The numbers are in and we conquered our goal.

For the first time ever Sullivan Entertainment set out with an online fundraising initiative in support of the non-profit organization Free The Children.

A goal of raising $50 000 was set for the month of May, and with the generous support of Anne fans, we were able to meet that goal. The money raised will go towards building an Anne of Green Gables school, library, water filtration system and small business initiative program in a community of Maasai Mara region in Kenya.

Thank you to everyone who contributed and made this goal a reality. We are overwhelmed by all of the support from those who want to make a difference and help to change the lives of people living in Kenya. The construction of the school is set to begin in the summer of 2010.

Free The Children is a project that launched in 1995, by Craig and Marc Kielburger. The group has been harnessing the energy of young people from all over the world to help build schools in developing countries, as well as to address social issues affecting underprivileged communities around the world.

Free The Children currently uses many of Sullivan’s Anne: the Animated Series DVDs and educational materials, developed in conjunction with PBS, as a teaching aid in schools in Kenya. Sullivan is honored to now be part of this new project and to bring Anne and the lessons of community and strong relationship to such an underprivileged area of the world.

Thank you once again for your generosity and for helping to make such an important project possible.

Dear Friends – we look forward to welcoming you to learn more about the growing movement behind FREE THE CHILDREN, the international development organization founded by Marc and Craig Kielburger. The organization has become one of the world’s most significant catalysts in world aid by offering opportunities to young people to bring about change through tolerance, humanity, generosity and understanding by means of the process of building schools in Africa, Ecuador, India, and other countries around the world.

Marc Kielburger worked for Sullivan Entertainment as a high-school intern in Sullivan’s business and legal affairs department. Marc went on to become a Harvard grad and a Rhodes Scholar and has collaborated with his younger brother Craig, who also had a dream as a high-school student, to advocate rights for children in third-world countries. Today they are the Executive Directors of FREE THE CHILDREN, which 15 years later has become an internationally acclaimed children’s charity, supported by such well known activists as Jane Goodall, the Dalai Lama, Richard Gere, Queen Noor and Oprah Winfrey. Their enormously successful book “Me to We” has kick-started a worldwide community of socially conscious leadership experiences for high-school students across North America who are able to participate in building schools in underprivileged villages and communities for families who would otherwise be unable to obtain any means of basic education and improvement in the lives of their children; allowing them to move forward beyond their circumstances and make their own contribution to society.

The ME TO WE movement has maintained, at its heart, a life philosophy about finding purpose and meaning through compassion, community and a commitment to promoting the collective well-being of a shared community. FREE THE CHILDREN ‘s extensive education and development work overseas is a commitment to Global change. Despite overwhelming odds, bureaucratic red-tape and financial challenges in third world locations where initiating any kind of change or enterprise might seem to most people to be a near impossibility, Marc and Craig are motivated by hope. Hope that has now successfully built over 500 schools and a belief that - making significant changes even in the lives of only a few, leads to the enlightenment and exhilaration of what it means to truly become “my brother’s keeper” . Those who have been touched by their philosophy and joined in this experience are able to gain perspective in their life by focusing less on me and more on we – our community and our world.

We, at Sullivan Entertainment, share Marc and Craig’s philosophy and their dream of accomplishing change for a better world. Our company has enjoyed the privilege of having our films shown around the world for over 30 years and seen change in people’s lives brought about through the gift of storytelling. We now embark on a new kind of journey with FREE THE CHILDREN and join them in their quest. We hope you will join us in our plan to build an “Anne of Green Gables” school and community water-filtration system in a small village in the Maasai Mara region of Kenya in 2010, either though donations to this fundraiser; or by even traveling with us to participate in the physical building of this school in a unique opportunity to connect with a local Kenyan community and to experience the joy of changing the lives of others. In our “Anne of Green Gables” community we have all shared the heartache and happiness of understanding Anne’s human experience as a role model for positive values, education, self-motivation and a belief in conquering the impossible. This endeavor becomes a tangible means of living those ideals to the fullest.

We earnestly hope that you will join us, in whatever way you can, by supporting FREE THE CHILDREN. We know that you will become inspired in bringing this philosophy into your daily life in our global village.

In celebration of the release of Anne of Green Gables ~ A New Beginning on DVD, Sullivan’s websites will be hosting an online fundraiser for the International non-profit, FREE THE CHILDREN, created by Craig Kielberger, during the month of May. 100% of the money donated online with matching funds from Sullivan Entertainment on the Sullivan websites will go towards building an Anne of Green Gables school in Kenya, Africa and a new water filtration system. In addition, Sullivan will donate $5.00 per every order on the online Sullivan Boutique in the month of May.

For more information about the upcoming fundraiser stay tuned to these websites for updates: www.sullivanmovies.com, www.anneofgreengables.com and www.sullivanboutique.com. Any donation over $10 will receive a charitable tax receipts from Free the Children for U.S. and Canadian Donors.


To gear up for this fundraiser, Sullivan is pleased to announce that we have two books available in our Sullivan Boutique to learn more about Free the Children!


FREE THE CHILDREN

Written by Craig Kielburger on his return from Asia, Free the Children tells the remarkable story of his encounters with some of the most disadvantaged children on earth, children involved in exploitative child labour. It won the prestigious Christopher Award and has been translated into eight languages.

Click here to purchase.



ME TO WE

Me to We is a philosophy, a manual, a manifesto and a movement. It's about finding meaning in our lives and our world by reaching out to others. Thinking "we" instead of "me". And it's so easy to be a part of it!

Take the next step and make 'thinking we' a part of your life. Pick up New York Times best-seller, Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World, today.


Click here to purchase.

For the past few months, Sullivan Entertainment, an English teacher from Bishop Strachan School and the not-for profit organization Free The Children have collaborated to develop and use Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series as part of the curriculum for elementary students in Kenyan schools.

When the cartoon series first aired on PBS, a set of special Educator’s Guides was created. Each portion of these guides corresponded to a specific episode and gave teachers a wide range of activities and lesson plans that related to the educational theme of each episode. The series was designed to promote healthy social and emotional development of young viewers, and as a result Sullivan and Free The Children felt it was a perfect tie-in with the legendary fictional character currently celebrating her 100th birthday and the internationally based Free the Children which is responsible for building and developing schools by western students in third world countries.

Choosing six episodes ("A Question of Rules", "The Avonlea Herald", "One True Friend", "A Welcome Hero", "Bully by the Horns" & "The Best Partner") that fit with the Kenyan school system, Connie Green from Bishop Strachan School was given the opportunity to re-write and shape the lesson plans so they would work in the Kenyan School System.

All six of the episodes will be tested in eight schools in Kenya that Free The Children helped build. If a success, Free The Children will be taking the lesson plans to other countries around the world, allowing Anne to inspire and help teach positive values.

In addition to these lesson plans, Anne has already become a large part of the Free The Children organization. Hannah Endicott-Douglas, the fourteen year-old making her screen debut as Anne Shirley opposite Shirley MacLaine in the new TV movie, Anne of Green Gables ~ A New Beginning, has become an official Free the Children Elementary School Ambassador. As an ambassador, Hannah is using her public profile to speak out about global issues and inspire other young people to action. At Free the Children’s national Me to We Day, held on October 17th, 2008, Hannah, was introduced as a main presenter. Keep checking the Free the Children website to see Hannah’s guest blog: www.freethechildren.com. Click here to view her first post now!


About Free The Children: Free The Children is the world's largest network of students helping children through education, with more than one million youth involved in our innovative education and development programs in 45 countries. Founded in 1995 by international child rights activist Craig Kielburger, Free The Children has a proven track record of success. The organization has received the World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child (also known as the Children's Nobel Prize), the Human Rights Award from the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations, and has formed successful partnerships with leading school boards and Oprah's Angel Network. Form more information about Free the Children, please visit: www.freethechildren.com.