Minnesota’s most celebrity-packed event of the year crammed over 18,000 students into the Xcel Energy center on October 8th. We Day’s goal was to inspire youth to help their and other’s communities, create positive change, and kick off a year of volunteering – and it seems to be working.

“When you leave, you feel like you want to do something.” said Destiny Bilges, a South freshman who attended the event.

The movement was started by Canadian student Craig Kielburger, who founded the movement in sixth grade when he heard about the assassination of Pakistani activist Iqbal Masih. Masih had spent most of his life in abusive child labor weaving carpets, until he escaped captivity at the age of ten. He went on to join the Bonded Labor Liberation Front and helped over 3,000 children in bonded labor escape to freedom, until he was fatally shot in 1995 after returning to Pakistan. Kielburger started the charity and youth movement ‘Free the Children’ after hearing about Masih’s assassination.

Thirteen years later, ‘Free the Children’ has blossomed into an international organization working in developing countries including Ecuador, Ghana, and rural China. Free the Children also hosts the annual series of events ‘We Day’.

Minnesota is the second US state to have We Day, after Washington hosted the first event in the United States on March 27th. There are plans to start We Day in the UK, and to host another rally in Seattle next year. Celebrities such as the Jonas Brothers,  Dessa, and Carly Rae Jepson attended the Minnesota event, along with global figures like Queen Noor of Jordan and Martin Luther King’s son, Martin Luther King III. “All kinds of people come and talk about all of the services to the community that they have done, and how you could help and get on board.” said Ms. Ockman, an Open English teacher who attended.

The aim that the We Day rally hoped to accomplish in the Twin Cities was simple: to rekindle hope in the new generation.  “You’re never too young to make a difference.” said Destiny.