The much anticipated annual Multicultural Luncheon is back again! It will be held on April 27th! Be sure to bring your appetite! For those in need of volunteer hours, or who just want to donate/volunteer, we will once again be giving several volunteer hours to anyone who brings in a homemade dish!

This year's Luncheon is sure to be bigger and better than ever before! Come and show your support! As usual, all proceeds will go towards building a school in Kenya. If you would like to volunteer/donate please sign up on the MIA door. For more information please pay attention to the announcements every morning or just come talk to one of the MIA coordinators!

As many of you may know, a devastating earthquake hit Haiti last week. Over 3 million lives have been affected by this adversity and anywhere from 100,000 to 200,000 people have died.

Starting on Tuesday, MIA is collecting donations for Free the Children’s Haiti Relief Fund. Haiti is in dire need for emergency aid and basic resources (ie. Food, water & shelter). With the country’s high debt, more money would be needed to re-establish much of the country’s infrastructure and organizations.

The Canadian government will match every dollar that we raise so it’s important that we do all we can to help this situation. Please spread the word.

Thank you for your support.

(Photo:CNN's complete coverage on Haiti Earthquake 2010)

Hey everyone, the annual Vow of Silence (VOS) is coming up on Friday, November 27th, 2009! For those who do not know what the VOS is, it is basically an awareness raising initiative where participants are required not to speak for the duration of 24 hours. Other mediums of communication are also discouraged such as: Text messaging, MSN, E-mail, written notes etc.

The purpose of this event is to raise awareness and to collect donations to help give voice to children silenced by poverty.

We hope that this year everyone will come out to support this event by making a statement. This event will take place on the last Friday of November. Participants will be required to be silent for the entire day and join in for fun games and activites after school in the cafeteria. You will remain there until 10pm playing games, watching movies, playing ping pong etc.-all silently ofcourse. Dinner and refreshments will be provided. Our goal for this year is for all participants to pledge $20. All the donations will go towards building a school in Kenya. It is sure to be a meaningful and enjoyable event.

Sometimes the best way to make a statement is to not talk at all. Show the world that our generation is capable of making a difference.

**Volunteer hours will be given out.**

P.S. We also encourage you to ask your teachers to participate in the VOS. Imagine them not talking for a whole day... A good idea is to sponsor your teacher as a class (have every student donate 2 dollars). There is no downside!