A pair of Canadian youth on a year-long journey to raise $1 million for charity were in Red Deer last week.
Adonie and Lydia Sacallis of Kelowna, B.C. spent last Thursday and Friday in the foyer of Superstore in the City as one of the stops on their 12 month-long Just Give. Today World Tour, which will see them visit 12 countries to distribute the money they have raised to 34 different charities around the world.
“I think it’s very important to give because once you give, you just feel like you made someone’s day better,” said Lydia, 9.
The duo’s travels have already taken them from Kelowna to P.E.I, Ontario and Newfoundland as they raised money for a number of local causes including the BCSPCA, CNIB and Canadian Blood Services.
On Friday, the pair were busy raising money to deliver ‘Boxes of Joy’ to orphans in the Dominican Republic, which will be the next stop on their tour. “We want to give to some people that don’t have as much as us,” Adonie, 11, said.
From there the duo, along with their mother, J.B. Owen, and Logistics Manager Alisha Kandler will head to Mexico, Costa Rica, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Peru, Galapagos, Greece and Turkey before finishing their tour in the U.S.
“The Just Give World Tour was created by these two to teach the rest of the kids around the world to ‘just give.’ The mandate is about kids being able to change the world and empowering them to know that anything is possible. They’re really big about giving to people and servicing different organizations and creating a global connection,” Kandler said, adding they also want to inspire others to help out as well.
In their travels, Adonie and Lydia will be supporting a variety of different causes and charities including Dove Missions, the Dream Project, La Tortuga Feliz, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, Operation Smile Peru, the Galapagos Conservation Trust and Dreams Take Flight, among others.
The idea behind the tour came when Adonie and Lydia’s mother asked them what they wanted to do this summer.
“We said we wanted to give money to charity. So we started brainstorming and came to this big conclusion where we wanted to go to 12 countries in 12 months and donate $1 million,” Adonie said.
For more information on the Sacallis’ world tour and the charities they are supporting, or to donate to their cause you can visit their web site at www.justgive.today.
zcormier@reddeerexpress.com
