We are available at any time to answer questions, schedule an interview and provide photos for publication.
Media and photo inquiries:
Please contact Keely Wallace at kwallace@stephenlewisfoundation.org, or by phone at 1-888-203-9990, ext. 252.
Campaign dares Canadians to wear red and support African HIV/AIDS projectsMedia Release
Feb 01, 2012
Unique opportunity for top fundraisers to walk the runway during Toronto Fashion Week
Toronto, ON: Dare to Wear Red! The Stephen Lewis Foundation and Dare to Wear Love are challenging Canadians to wear something red for the month of February and raise funds for grassroots organizations turning the tide of AIDS in Africa.
The campaign is simple: participants sign up for Dare to Wear Red, style themselves in something red every day for the month of February, and raise funds from their friends and family who challenge them to fulfill their dream – or fear – of walking the catwalk. The three individuals who raise the most funds for the Stephen Lewis Foundation will model a one-of-a-kind design by Susan Dicks & Co. at Dare to Wear Love, the closing gala of World MasterCard Fashion Week in Toronto on March 16th … and they get to keep their outfit!
Whether as an accent, a feature piece, or head-to-toe, participants are challenged to wear red every day from February 1 to February 29. The three winners of
Dare to Wear Red will be decided on March 1.
“We often hear from people in the fashion world and arts community that they want to get involved in their community and support organizations like the Stephen Lewis Foundation,” said Hoax Couture fashion designers, Jim Searle and Chris Tyrell, organizers of the Dare to Wear Love fashion show. “By simply wearing something red every day for the month of February, Canadians of any age or background can show their support for the work of effective and innovative grassroots projects in Africa turning the tide of HIV and AIDS.”
“Every single day, women, men and young people in Africa are pushed to the limit by the AIDS pandemic, and yet still find the strength to bring support and hope to their communities,” said Ilana Landsberg Lewis, Executive Director of the Stephen Lewis Foundation. “By taking part in Dare to Wear Red, Canadians are supporting families and communities who are working tirelessly to uplift their communities together.”
Participants can sign up for Dare to Wear Red by visiting: www.darecampaign.ca/dares_wear.cfm
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For more information contact:
Keely Wallace, Stephen Lewis Foundation, kwallace@stephenlewisfoundation.org, 416-533-9292 x 306
About Dare to Wear Love
DARE TO WEAR LOVE is a cutting-edge annual gala fashion event in partnership with the Fashion Design Council of Canada, Hoax Couture, and The Stephen Lewis Foundation. Celebrating the commitment to social justice of Canada’s fashion design community and performing artists, the goal of Dare to Wear Love is to raise funds and awareness in support of The Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Arts Fund, and to showcase the talents of Canada's fashion designers, using the Power of Fashion for Good. To learn more, visit www.daretowearlove.com
About the Stephen Lewis Foundation
The Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) supports community-based organizations that are turning the tide of HIV/AIDS in Africa. They provide care to women who are ill and struggling to survive; assist orphans and other AIDS-affected children; reach heroic grandmothers who almost single-handedly care for their orphan grandchildren; and sustain associations of people living with HIV and AIDS. Since 2003, the SLF has supported more than 700 community-level initiatives in 15 sub-Saharan countries. To learn more, visit www.stephenlewisfoundation.org
DARE TO DRAW: Kids create for a cause Toronto Star
Jan 11, 2012
Do your kids love to draw? Do you like to encourage them to take small, concrete action for change?
Parentcentral.ca has joined our friends at Bunch Family in posing a month-long drawing challenge to raise funds for the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s efforts to turn the tide of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.
Here’s how it works. Kids take up our Dare to create a drawing each day for a month following the handy chart of suggested themes from the creative types at Bunch. Parents (grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends, too) agree to sponsor them by donating $1 per drawing to the Stephen Lewis Foundation. (It’s easy to make a one-time $30 donation to keep it simple.)
To get started, please join the parentcentral.ca team on the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Dare Campaign website. You can create a personalized page and email friends and family to ask for donations.
Then download and print the Dare to Draw pledge sheet for your kids to sign.
Next, download and print the Dare to Draw chart for your child to follow along throughout the month. Drawing starts Monday, January 16!
To connect with other families taking up the Dare to Draw, please like the Dare to Draw page on Facebook. This is where you’ll be able to upload and share your kids’ drawings.
We’ll be sharing some of our favourite pictures received on Facebook, so please don’t forget to snap some pics of your child’s creations and post them so we can applaud their efforts. Plus we’ll be providing daily encouragement to little artists, as well as special assignments and downloadable PDFs to help them along the way.
We think a fun and philanthropic drawing project will add a little something special to the dark winter evenings and hope you agree.
Murray Foster of Great Big Sea’s Daring New Year’s ResolutionMedia Release
Jan 03, 2012
Toronto, ON: On New Year’s Eve, Murray Foster, member of Newfoundland Celtic-pop group Great Big Sea, and founding member of Toronto’s Moxy Fruvous, resolved to raise funds to support African organizations that are turning the tide of AIDS. As part of the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Dare Campaign, Foster dared himself to write and record a song a day for the month of January. Any individual donating to Murray’s dare can be the first to hear these exclusive songs.
Aiming to raise $2000, Foster is joining hundreds of Canadians who have already signed-up and registered online.
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Toby Takes Toronto - Toby Samson, new to Toronto from Vancouver is resolving to get to know her new city and become a Torontonian this January. She will be kicking her dare off with a photo scavenger hunt of the city on January 4.
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Toronto’s Katherine Magee is climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and daring to raise $7,500 along the way.
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Discovery Channel’s Andrew Younghusband is biking from Cairo, Egypt, to Cape Town, South Africa, aiming to raise $10,000.
This is the third year of the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Dare Campaign. In the first two years the campaign raised more than $1.3 million. For more information and to watch videos on the campaign visit darecampaign.ca.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Keely Wallace
Dare and Media Organizer
(416) 533-9292, ext. 306
kwallace@stephenlewisfoundation.org
Canadians are Turning New Year’s Resolutions into Dares to Raise Funds for HIV/AIDS in AfricaMedia Release
Dec 28, 2011
This New Year the Stephen Lewis Foundation challenges Canadians to join the Dare Campaign
Toronto, ON: This New Year’s eve, Canadians across the country are turning their New Year’s resolutions into dares as part of the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Dare Campaign, which raises funds to support community-based organizations that are turning the tide of HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Canadians are making their New Year’s resolutions more meaningful and easier to keep by turning their resolutions into dares.
Hundreds of Canadians have already signed up and registered online:
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Murray Foster of Great Big Sea is resolving to write and record a song a day for the month of January. By donating to Murray’s dare you can be the first to hear these exclusive songs.
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Brian Finch, publisher/creator of e-zine Positivelite.com and writer for Fab Magazine, is daring to humiliate himself for Africa with a night of solo stand-up comedy
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For the second year, Bunchfamily.ca is challenging parents across North America to partake in the Dare Campaign. Bunchfamily.ca will be joined by parents and kids across Canada in showing their solidarity with every stroke of a crayon. With Dare to Draw, parents will encourage their kids to draw a picture a day for the month of January.
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Discovery Channel’s Andrew Younghusband is biking from Cairo, Egypt, to Cape Town, South Africa, aiming to raise $10,000.
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Prita Chhabra, Indo-Canadian singer/songwriter, is daring to return to her first job, dressing up as a Disney character outside of the Disney Store.
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Toronto’s Katherine Magee is climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and daring to raise $7,500 along the way.
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The Dalhousie Dares team from Halifax, Nova Scotia, is resolving to make January a month full of dares.
This is the third year of the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Dare Campaign. In the first two years the campaign raised more than $1.3 million. For more information and to watch videos on the campaign visit: darecampaign.ca.
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For media inquiries, please contact:
Keely Wallace
Dare and Media Organizer
(416) 533-9292, ext. 306
kwallace@stephenlewisfoundation.org
About the Stephen Lewis Foundation
The Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) supports community-based organizations that are turning the tide of HIV/AIDS in Africa. They provide care to women who are ill and struggling to survive; assist orphans and other AIDS affected children; reach heroic grandmothers who almost single-handedly care for their orphan grandchildren; and sustain associations of people living with HIV and AIDS. Since 2003, SLF has supported more than 700 community-level initiatives in 15 sub-Saharan countries. To learn more, visit stephenlewisfoundation.org.
King's student to kick off charity bike ride for Stephen Lewis FoundationHalifaxNewsNet
Nov 22, 2011
By Yvette d'Entremont
When University of King’s College student Michael Wilson kicks off his 160 km charity bike ride this Friday morning, he doesn’t expect a huge sendoff given his 7 a.m. start time.
This is the second year Wilson has decided to actively contribute to the Stephen Lewis Foundation campaign to raise funds to help battle HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Last year he raised more than $2,000 through the foundation’s Dare Campaign by taking six hours to run to Peggy’s Cove from his home near the university campus.
This time, he has “double dared” himself to raise at least $4,000 by biking 160 kms starting at the King’s Quad and heading up along the Chain of Lakes Trail toward St. Margaret’s Bay. He expects it to take six to eight hours.
“I don’t get outside Halifax all that much because it’s harder to do without a car, so it’s also a great chance to see all these beautiful areas I wouldn’t otherwise,” he said.
His reasons for choosing to support the Stephen Lewis Foundation are varied, but he said the chance to be actively involved in supporting the non-profit group was one he couldn’t pass up.
“I’ve always liked physical challenges and have been a hiker for years, played sports, and am a long distance runner so this kind of thing is a natural fit,” he said.
“I am lucky enough to have heard Stephen Lewis speak and I already knew about the campaign. There are so many great organizations out there that it’s hard to choose one, but it’s Canadian and I admire what he (Lewis) has done so far.”
Wilson’s completing his dare as part of the larger Team Dalhousie Dares, organized through the International Development Studies department by student Alex Mcphedran.
Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day.
To learn more about his dare, check Wilson’s blog at
http://michaelwilsonsdoubledare.wordpress.com where you’ll also find a ‘To Donate’ link that will bring you to his Stephen Lewis Foundation fundraising page.
To learn more about the Stephen Lewis Foundation and the organization’s efforts to support grassroots organizations working to turn the tide of HIV/AIDS in Africa, go to
www.stephenlewisfoundation.org.