DISNEY'S FRIENDS FOR CHANGE Ambassadors — Get involved, have fun and
make a difference!
Your favorite Disney Channel stars are making changes worldwide! Follow along with Debby Ryan of Jessie, Bella Thorne and Zendaya of Shake It Up!, and Ross Lynch and Laura Marano of Austin & Allie, to discover how you can be a Friend for Change.
VOLUNTEER WITH DEBBY RYAN
Friends for Change Ambassador Debby Ryan is volunteering to help build schools in India. You can volunteer at home, in your community, anywhere! Start making a difference today! Take Action with Debby now!
BE A LEADER WITH BELLA & ZENDAYA
Friends for Change Ambassadors Bella Thorne and Zendaya are learning all about how to be leaders. Grab your friends, and you can start leading the way too! Take Action with Bella & Zendaya now!
GREEN YOUR SCENE WITH ROSS LYNCH & LAURA MARANO
Friends for Change Ambassadors Ross Lynch and Laura Marano are all about connecting with nature. Join them and make a difference right in your own backyard. What will you do to green your scene? Take action with Ross & Laura now!
DISNEY'S FRIENDS FOR CHANGE — Helping People, Communities, and the Planet!
Disney's Friends for Change is about taking steps together with your friends and family to make a positive impact on the world and the people and animals that live here. Our mission is to provide you with the information, tools, encouragement and inspiration to become stewards of change. As more kids across the globe become involved, through even the smallest of actions, we can begin to make big changes.
TAKE ACTION WITH FRIENDS FOR CHANGE AMBASSADORS
Friends for Change is teaming up with Disney stars and non-profit organizations to inspire and encourage kids and families to become ambassadors of change in their own communities. This summer, follow Debby Ryan of Jessie, Bella Thorne and Zendaya of Shake It Up!, and Ross Lynch and Laura Marano of Austin & Allie as they serve as Disney Ambassadors around the world. From community volunteerism to youth leadership to greening communities, our Ambassadors will be helping people, communities, and the planet — and YOU CAN TOO!
Each of the three featured causes will also receive up to $250,000 to support their work and can raise additional funds though online votes from our Friends for Change community. In total, $750,000 will be donated to support these programs.
Check out each of the Ambassador projects below and see how you can do your part. From pledging to take action at home, to participating in our interactive trivia games or downloading Friends for Change Action Kits for tips on creating change, there are so many ways that you can help! You can even vote to support your favorite projects and help spark a donation to support people and kids in need!
VOLUNTEER WITH DEBBY RYAN
Debby Ryan is volunteering in India to help build two new school classrooms, a center for preschool-aged children, and after-school resources in efforts to expand learning opportunities and promote a culture of learning in the larger community. As Friends for Change Ambassador Debby Ryan works to make a difference, Free the Children will be lending a helping hand in this amazing project. But that's not all!
You can do your part to volunteer and help in your own community. Volunteer in your own backyard with tips from our downloadable Action Kit. Pledge online, try your hand at our interactive trivia game, and create works of art to promote community spirit with our digital painter! See all the ways that you can help promote community volunteerism by checking out Debby Ryan's volunteer page!
BE A LEADER WITH BELLA & ZENDAYA
Bella Thorne and Zendaya will be helping to host a leadership academy for kids. There sixty youth leaders will participate in workshops in conflict resolution, service leadership and communication. Each of these youth leaders will then take action in their own communities, spreading the word amongst their peers and helping other kids, like yourselves, take on leadership roles creating positive change. Bella and Zendaya, Friends for Change, and all these wonderful leaders will be helped in their efforts by Free the Children.
But YOU can help at home as well! Pledge to become a leader in your own community, check out our anti-bullying trivia game, share leadership tips with kids across the country with our Leadership Shout-Outs, and check out tips on how you can make a difference! Want to know more ways that you can Be a Leader with Bella and Zendaya? Check out Bella and Zendaya's leadership page!
GREEN YOUR SCENE WITH ROSS LYNCH & LAURA MARANO
Ross Lynch and Laura Marano are connecting kids to nature. Friends for Change will be greening campuses at over 25 Los Angeles' schools affecting thousands of students. Our goal? To revitalize urban school settings to grant kids access to greener and healthier learning environments, from learning to capture rainwater to planting fruit trees and educational gardens. TreePeople will be chipping in to help Ross, Larua, and all you amazing Friends for Change in this effort to green our communities.
Join Friends for Change and make a difference in your own backyard. Want to help create a change? Volunteer with a tree planting in your neighborhood, or go online and take action! Make a green pledge, download a Green Your Scene ActionKit for more tips on how to help, or even try your hand at a little green gaming And don't forget to vote to support your favorite green project! Help your planet with ambassadors Ross Lynch and Laura Marano!
BECOME A FRIEND FOR CHANGE!
There are many ways that you can TAKE ACTION and help to create change!
SIMPLE ACTIONS YOU CAN DO YOURSELF:
Make Your Pledge:Commit to take positive action in your daily life! Make pledges in one (or more) of four categories: Let's get outdoors, Disaster relief, Make a difference with your friends and family, and Planet actions, including pledges around Climate, Habitat, Waste and Water.
Hands-On Activities: Download online activities!
Spontaneous Actions: Simply take action. Instead of walking by that cup or piece of paper on the ground, pick it up and throw it away. Leave a place better than you found it.
FRIENDS AND FAMILIES:
Get Your Friends Together: Start your own Friends for Change (FFC) Club! This can be a green club, volunteer club, kindness club; the sky is the limit!
Apply for a Friends for Change Grant: Take your FFC club to the next level. Propose a project for change in your community and apply for a grant to help make that project a reality. The next round of granting will begin in December 2011.
Volunteer: Gather your friends and family and take action! Volunteer for something relevant to your community. This could be anything from serving at a food bank to participating in a local tree planting.
YOUR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY:
FFC "New Friends" Club: With your friends and new friends, come together to explore our different worlds. We can learn so much from each other! Start a FFC "New Friends" Club in your community. Reach out to new friends to join your club! It can be a new student at your school or a new neighbor!
Disney's Planet Challenge: Be a Friend for Change in your classroom! Ask your teacher to consider enrolling your classroom in Disney's Planet Challenge — an environmental competition that brings your class together as a team to create positive change in your community.
HELP DISNEY DONATE MONEY TO AWESOME CAUSES:
Would you like to help Disney take action? Disney donates to charities and projects around the globe. Visit the EXPLORE & VOTE section to vote and help decide how and where Disney will make its donations.
What is Disney Friends for Change?
Disney's Friends for Change is a program encouraging kids, friends, and families to join together and create lasting positive change in their world and be better global citizens. Our mission is to provide you with the information, tools, encouragement and inspiration to become stewards of change. With millions of dollars funded to projects tied to conservation, community and youth-led projects, as more kids across the globe become involved, Disney's Friends for Change shows how even the smallest of actions can add up to big changes that positively help people, communities and the planet.
Friends for Change helps kids become involved by:
1. Inspiring us all to work together to make small daily changes that add up to a big difference.
2. Helping us make big change by voting on how and where Disney will make donations to charities and projects around the globe.
Why did Disney create Friends for Change?
Disney was inspired by kids' enthusiasm to take practical steps towards positive change in the world around them and to take part in collective actions that will make a difference for people, communities and the planet.
Creating your Friends for Change log in is quick and easy. With it, you can...
- take actions and report on progress
- see how others' collective actions add up in a big way
- vote on how and where Disney makes donations that support charities and projects around the globe
What is a pledge?
Pledging is basically like making a promise to make small changes in your everyday life, like volunteering with local charities, recycling, learning about disaster preparedness, or showing kindness to community members in need. IT IS FREE and will help people, communities and the planet in big ways!
How do I pledge to take action?
To take action and pledge, you must be a registered member of Disney.com. (THIS IS FREE!) Once you’ve created an account, you can go to disney.com/projectgreen, click Take Action, locate the action(s) you want to take and click on the action(s) to make your pledge(s).
How do I vote as part of Friends for Change?
To vote, you must be a registered member of Disney.com. Go to disney.com/projectgreen, login, and click Explore & Vote. Read about each of the projects and vote for your favorite. Each week, you will be able to return to the site, log in and cast another vote. Remember, once you choose the project don’t forget to hit the “Submit” button to cast your vote.
Where do I learn more about the projects?
Go to the Explore and Vote section and click on Your Votes in Action to see past projects voted on by kids like you, including programs aimed at helping to protect endangered forests and wildlife, along with projects to support the betterment of children's lives across the globe. While reading about each you can find images, videos and project updates to learn more about how these projects are helping the communities and the planet. And make sure to vote for your favorite project in our Explore & Vote section, now!
What are Disney Friends for Change Grants?
Disney, together with Youth Service America (YSA), is proud to offer Disney’s Friends for Change Grants to help kids that are making environmentally friendly changes in their communities. Disney’s Friends for Change Grants are open to schools, organizations and individuals planning service projects and will focus on projects implemented by children ages 5-18. Visit the Friends for Change website and click on the Disney Friends for Change grant logo and stay informed on all grant application information.
How does my project get featured on Disney Channel? Will talent come to my school?
We award Disney's Friends for Change youth grants each year to over 150 kids executing projects in their communities and schools. Kids can learn online how to apply for a grant at disney.com/projectgreen (http://ysa.org/grants/disney-friends-change-grants). We review these stories and select features for Disney Channel and local community events.
What is Disney's Planet Challenge?
Disney's Planet Challenge is the in-school edition of Disney's Friends for Change. It is a free, classroom-based, environmental competition encouraging kids like you to make a difference in school, at home and in your local communities. As a class you select a local environmental issue to research and create a class project seeking real life solutions to the selected issue. The completed project is submitted as a portfolio. Past prizes have included a class trip to Disneyland, school grants, advance screenings of Disney Nature films and a Disney concert at the winning school. For more information, please visit http://disney.go.com/planetchallenge.
How do I participate in Disney's Planet Challenge?
Be a Friend for Change and take it to the next level: participate in Disney's Planet Challenge. Do you want to make a difference? Are you in 3rd – 8th grade? Ask your teacher if Disney's Planet Challenge is right for your classroom. For more information, your teacher can visit http://disney.go.com/planetchallenge.
Can't find the answer to your question?
For additional information, click http://home.disney.go.com/guestservices/ to contact customer support and follow the "Contact Us" directions. Please be specific when describing problems or requests - you should receive a response within 48 hours of receipt. And remember, business hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM (ET).