SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A Toronto-based aid group travelled to Yellowknife this week to convince Catholic school students to do their part to help children in need.

Britta Badour speaks with students at a workshop to brainstorm fundraising ideas for Toronto-based Free the Children which met with students at St. Patrick High School on Monday. - Adrian Lysenko/NNSL photo

On Monday, Britta Badour and Galen Kerrick, members of Free the Children, gave an hour-long presentation at St. Patrick's High School. The pair said their group aims to help motivate students and lift their self-esteem by helping impoverished children overseas.

After the presentation students were invited to participate in a workshop where they could brainstorm ideas for fundraising with Badour and Kerrick.

The presenters helped the students with ideas for raising money and awareness to certain issues which they thought were important.

Lori Tutt, the teaching adviser for the Christian leadership program at the school, said the students were already involved in social justice projects, and getting involved in Free the Children will encourage them to undertake fundraising activities all on their own.

"They have the power to a make a difference, build self-esteem and be heard in the community," said Tutt.

Badour said the main goal of their workshop was to dispel the idea that youth are powerless to create positive change.

"We meet with youths, interact with (them) to raise their self-esteem, and try to get them to think outside themselves," said Badour.

Free the Children, founded in 1995, focuses on sustainable development in countries such as China, Kenya and Ecuador.

The majority of the funds for development come from youths.

"We want them to feel confident in what they do, the goals that they set are attainable and that they can do it," said Kerrick.

Using last month's earthquake in Haiti as an example, Susan Huvenaars, a career counsellor at St. Pat's, said it is important to try to get youths to care about poor countries like Haiti before disaster strikes.

"We are trying to teach them that natural disasters are going to happen but there's poverty out there that we could address," she said.

In four days, through fundraising at the school, students managed to raise more than $2,000 for Haiti relief.

Michelle Thoms, a teacher at the high school agrees with Huvenaars. "It is important that the kids understand that we are always working to alleviate injustice, not just when disaster strikes," she said.