Bellevue Youth to Celebrate Service at Star-Studded We Day

Bellevue students will learn about getting excited about service and positive approaches to life at the first ever “We Day” in America at KeyArena in Seattle Wednesday.

Young people from Bellevue Youth Link and Bellevue Christian School will participate in the event.

The event will be streaming live on the Internet at weday.com and q13fox.com.

The youth-empowerment event is a program by the Canadian-based non-profit group Free The Children, founded by Craig Kielburger. We Day events have been going on in Canada for six years. Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll helped bring the event to Seattle.

About 15,000 kids will attend the event--from about 380 schools in more than 100 districts statewide.

Bellevue Youth Link plans to attend the We Day conference.

Bellevue Christian School also plans to attend the conference. The school's fifth grade students participate in a service project called Loose Change to Loosen Chains, sponsored by International Justice Mission. Loose Change to Loosen Chains is a student-led campaign for elementary to college students to combat modern-day slavery, while learning about the reality of injustices today. Students collect change that is donated to International Justice Mission, which rescues victims of slavery and other forms of oppression. Bellevue Christian School students are eager to make a difference. It costs approximately $500 to free a slave in the world today. Each year our students free 3 or 4 slaves somewhere in the world.

The event lineup, which is co-title sponsored by Microsoft and Amway, includes:

• Actress and singer Jennifer Hudson
• NBA legend Magic Johnson
• Actor Martin Sheen
• Actress Mia Farrow
• Grammy award-winning musician Nellie Furtado
• Former Seattle Supersonic star Gary Payton
• The Seahawks' promising young quarterback Russell Wilson and fellow players Richard Sherman and Russell Okung
• Washington Gov. Jay Inslee
• Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn

Are you participating in the event? Tell us your activities, or your Twitter handle, in the comments below.