Power Unit Youth Organization is a volunteer organization.

We always have been and always will be…unless some venture capitalists want to fund us? (We’re kidding — we like the no frills approach to things.) My experiences as an intern in my field has led me to one simple, yet long time coming conclusion: interns just want to be appreciated. A simple high five from the boss or compliment will make every minute of work worth while. Similarly, volunteers also liked to feel appreciated for the time they’re putting in.

No monetary value can be placed upon the hours spent planning and working toward the events that PUYO pulls off, particularly with Night It Up!. (Imagine planning a wedding. Now multiply that by three days, with hundreds of vendors, tens of thousands of visitors, sanitation codes, stage set ups, sporting events etc. IN THE HEAT WAVE OF SUMMER, after our real life adult jobs or between university classes. You get the picture!) Though honestly, we would never expect fireworks and congratulatory gifts, and wouldn’t want any of that anyway.

And because we ourselves are volunteers, we appreciate it even more when our friends are kind enough to help us out, whole heartedly and with the most altruistic motivations.

For a long time, our friend Happy has been helping us keep our Night It Up! volunteers happily fed. She is a vendor, maybe one of our firsts, when we were still figuring out our kinks and making mistakes at planning events, but she was there. Every year, she’s prepped for her booth at Night It Up! and volunteer meals, always with a smile on her face and excited to help.

We don’t know how else to show our appreciation, but we’d really like to say a big thank you to Happy! We are so thrilled to host her booth again this year and of course, she is once again keeping the bellies of our volunteers content while they help make Night It Up! run smoothly. (A team member was adamant on inserting a stat — Happy will be cooking for more than 150 volunteers  before the first day of NIU, all out of her own pocket.)

This year, Happy will be at booth G1, “Lucky Satay”, right by the North West entrance.

We would be no where without all the support and help we receive. Thank you to everyone who’s been pushing us to go from zero to 100.

Sincerely from the nooks and crannies of our hearts, thank you.

Yours,

PUYO

If  you have read our previous blog post about our wish child, Justin, you would have known that we’re trying to raise $10,000 at Night It Up! for Make-A-Wish Canada. The money raised will be used to grant Justin’s wish to go to Disney World. However, if you want to contribute to Justin’s wish before Night It Up! begins, now is the time! Simply follow the instructions below to donate:

Starting today you can using your cellphone and text the word “WISH” to 45678 to donate directly. A $5 charge will automatically be applied to your next phone bill. Thank you for helping to grant Justin’s wish of going to Disney World!! Don’t forgot to come out to Night It Up! and visit the Make-A-Wish booth in person!

Did you know that Night It Up! (NIU!) is a philanthropic community project for which youths from Power Unit Youth Organization aim to fundraise for one beneficiary each year? This year we are helping a 9-year-old boy, Justin to make his wish to go to Disneyland come true by working with Make-A-Wish Foundation. The mission of Make-A-Wish is to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.

On Thursday, April 26, Make-A-Wish Canada celebrated World Wish Day, the anniversary of the first wish ever granted, at Hard Rock Cafe Toronto, and NIU! organizers were kindly invited to enjoy this lovely evening with the Make-A-Wish wish recipients, families, volunteers, and key supporters.

The night was filled with entertainments and laughters. There were face painting, air brush tattoo and balloon animal making, which some of our Power Unit members enjoyed very much and got chances to interact with children whose wishes have been granted. The program also included amazing Glee club performances and magic show. One of the hosts for the night, Madison, was a wish child who was diagnosed with Leukemia. Madison was such a sweet girl and her wish was to meet the cast of glee. She mentioned during the show that her wish was what kept her going after every chemo treatment. Madison’s wish was granted in November 2010. Make-A-Wish Canada fled her and her family to LA with all expenses covered to fulfill her wish.

With the generous help from supporters of Make-A-Wish all over the world, millions of kids’ wishes have been granted to this day. As an organization that strives to instill a sense of empowerment in youths and to encourage a habit of giving back, Power Unit proudly chooses Make-A-Wish as our beneficiary this year. We wish that through our hard work, Justin will have his dream come true and continue to fight through his medical treatments with hope and strength.

Do you remember the day when your parents came home and told you that you were going to see Mickey Mouse in real life for the first time? Do you remember watching the parade with all your favourite Disney characters waving at you? Or hoping that you could stay there for a little longer as you gaze at the fireworks?

Just like you, Justin dreams to go to Disney World with his family. He likes eating pizza, cookies and chips, his favourite movie is Cars, he loves playing with his Nintendo Wii, and watching Teletoon shows on TV. His favourite colour is blue, and he enjoys learning about math and traffic light facts.

However, Justin is also a cancer patient who is undergoing brain tumor treatment. He wishes that a trip to Disney World will help his entire family escape all of their medical worries so that they can enjoy the time with each other.

This year, Night It Up! is going to make this boy’s dream come true with the help of our beneficiary partner, Make-A-Wish Canada.

We hope that by granting Justin’s wish through our hard work, Justin and his family will have the courage to continue fighting.

Every year Power Unit Youth Organization selects a beneficiary from the local community and donates part-proceeds from our event to them. In 2011 we partnered with Sleeping Children Around The World, an organization dedicated to providing bedkits to kids in some of the poorest areas of the world.

With the $10,000 that Night It Up! raised for Sleeping Children Around The World, 285 bedkits were provided for children in Bangladesh so they could have a great night’s rest.

A big thank you to all 100,000+ people that attended last year. Continue supporting Night It Up! in 2012 and the worthy causes we’ll be helping out.

SCAW showing us the contents of the bedkits send to Bangladesh

Below: some of the children that received bedkits as a result of NIU!