Susan Li and Karlie Potts are second year students in Management and Science respectively. They are also the founders of the McGill chapter of Me to We, a social enterprise that works closely with Free the Children and is aimed at encouraging youth to be the change they want to see in the world (#ChangeIsInYourHands) by fundraising, volunteering, and raising awareness for causes they care about.
Fanta Kamara for Her Campus McGill (HC): How would you explain Me to We to people who do not know what it is?
Susan Li (SL): Me to We McGill is a club that focuses on empowering McGill students to aid in the alleviation of causes they care about, such as poverty, gender inequality and child labour. Me to We McGill is a non-profit organization, meaning that all of our proceeds go towards the Adopt a Village program with Free The Children.
Karlie Potts (KP): Me to We is a social enterprise, which focuses on making better decisions for a better world. The organization empowers and encourages youth to be the change. Individual clubs are built upon volunteerism and leadership development. Me to We is part of a family of organizations, including We Day and Free The Children. At the end of the day our goal is to shift the world from “me” to “we”.
HC: Why did you decide to start Me to We at McGill?
SL: Karlie and I have been involved with Me to We since we were in high school. As freshmen at McGill last year, we were looking for opportunities to be involved with Me to We, when we realized McGill lacked a Me to We student organization. We believed in the power and potential that McGill students hold and felt that Me to We would be the perfect opportunity to unite the student body and use that potential to start a change by getting people to stop viewing the world through a “me” perspective and view it through a “we” perspective instead.
KP: After starting university at McGill, I was eager to join a Me to We club. Having been actively involved in high school, I had developed a passion for the organization. Unfortunately, McGill did not yet have a club. Susan and I lived on the same floor in residence and realized this together. Over the summer we began talking about starting the club and contacted the regional coordinator. Our idea seemed to take off and the word began to spread. We now have an amazing team of executives and are preparing for next year.
HC: What type of events/campaigns can we expect to see from Me to We in the future?
KP: Me to We follows a calendar of fundraising campaigns and our club is hoping to follow the suggested guide. The first large campaign will be We Scare Hunger. This occurs in October and focuses on raising money and canned food for the local food banks.
SL: Me to We will be hosting many creative campaigns such as We Create Change, We Scare Hunger and We Are Silent. We Create Change aims to fundraise toward buying goats for families living in poverty in order to help them generate sustainable income. We Are Silent is also a fun one where participants go silent for a day for the cause they want to raise awareness for. These are just a few of the campaigns we are looking to offer to the McGill students, so stayed tuned for the fun campaigns we will host next year.
HC: How could people who are interested in joining join Me to We?
KP: Me to We is consistently looking for new members! We have opportunities for everything from local volunteering to the development of leadership skills.
SL: Me to We McGill welcomes anybody who shares an interest in our cause. Whether it is through engaging in volunteer opportunities we have set up with local organizations, actively taking part in leadership roles as a part of the executive staff, or fundraising for our campaigns. To stay updated, get connected with our Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr or approach our lovely executive members with any questions. We are also open to any suggestions and ideas. Me to We is really an organization that pushes McGill students to act on their thoughts. In the words of Obama, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
Photos provided by interviewees and Me to We McGill.