This summer, I was fortunate enough to work with an amazing team of like-minded people who wanted to spend their free time giving back to the community. The student group I joined is called the Child Advocacy Society of the University of Alberta.

Our area of focus this summer was to create a fundraising campaign called, Herd for Help. Together with my co-director, Casey Wong, we spent months developing our website, garnering sponsors, holding early morning and late night meetings, and much more.

The goal is to fund resources that provide support and programs for individuals that have been or are currently being affected by childhood abuse. A majority of the funds will go towards the Zebra Child Protection Centre and a portion will go to the Child Advocacy Society of the University of Alberta.

The Zebra Child Protection Centre does so much good work as the centre is made up of a team of dedicated law enforcement, specialized assessors, medical professionals and Zebra Centre staff working to create a safe space for children who have undergone or are undergoing child abuse. Meanwhile, our role as the Child Advocacy Society is to help promote awareness about child abuse on campus. We want to equip students and professors by educating them on how to identify the signs of abuse, how to handle it if someone comes forward to you and asks for help, and more.

Many university students may have a career working with children in the future and it is imperative that they are exposed to this knowledge.

Making any social change requires a village, or as we like to say… it takes a herd :D.

Please check out our website at herd4help.org to see how you can help! There are many resources to further educate yourself about the multifaceted problems our society faces in its battle against child abuse. As well, please visit zebracentre.ca to learn more about the programs they offer and the work that they are doing.

We hope you can support us in our mission to help the Zebra Child Protection Centre and aid children in need.