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Young Philanthropists win $5G for charity

On February 28, a team of Selwyn House Grade 10 students presented $5,000 to Friendship Circle, a worldwide Jewish organization that provides services for children throughout the community who have special needs.
 
The donation represented first prize in the Selwyn House Young Philanthropists’ Initiative (YPI), a competition in which teams of students advocate on behalf of a chosen charity. The winning team gets to donate the prize money to their charity.
 
At the YPI finals, teams present the case for their charity of choice in French in front of a panel of judges.
 
Headmaster Hal Hannaford opened the finals by recalling that his former school, Royal St. George’s in Toronto, held the first YPI competition in Canada.
 
He lauded the program for extolling a “sense of responsibility” among participating students.
 
Courtney Prieur, who runs the YPI program at Selwyn House, said that 8,600 Canadian students are participating in YPI this year. “Many of these students,” she pointed out, “will continue to participate in philanthropy throughout their lives.”
 
Four charities that operate locally were in the running at the YPI finals: Friendship Circle, Dans la Rue, Nova Montreal and Petites-Mains.
 
Earlier this year, students were taught by Selwyn House Old Boy John Hallward ’78 how to evaluate charities and choose which one is best to donate to. Based on factors such as the mission of the charity, how it uses its financial and human resources and how transparent it is all help students decide which charity produces the most impact from a donor’s dollar.
 
Ms Prieur added that YPI also helps students get to know their community better, and helps charities by raising their profile in the community. The program, she said, helps students “understand charities, the work they do and the difference they can make.”
 
When the judges’ decision was announced, the $5000 cheque went to the team of Alex Singer, Josh Ginsberg, Nicholas Fon and Gabriel Trottenberg and their chosen charity: Friendship Circle.
 
Since YPI was launched 13 years ago, over 400,000 students have taken part in the program, and have awarded over $12 million in grants to charities across Canada, the United Kingdom and New York City.
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