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Winnipeggers will soon have an opportunity to take in an evening of stories and songs while celebrating the differences that bring us together, all for a good cause.
Freedom International School is hosting Share the Night, a benefit concert on April 25 to support the education facility. The evening will feature performances by speaker and musical artist Howard Jolly and Rising Above band, Gavin Forbes is a Cultural Educator for Louis Riel Institute and also a professional jigger and dances with the Asham Stompers, as well as Freedom International School’s own dance team! Enjoy delicious pies donated from our supporting Hutterite Colonies.
The school serves newcomer and former refugee youth ages 12 to 21 and provides specialized, trauma-informed, accredited high school education in a Christ-centred environment.
While this is the first benefit concert hosted by Freedom International School, Cyndi Wiebe, the director of communications, says it is important. "We have a land acknowledgement on our website, we say our land acknowledgement every Friday in Chapel. We wanted to think about ways to expand that and how we share the land and space. So we came up with this idea to share the night where we can share different cultures."
When the idea of hosting a benefit concert came up, Wiebe knew she wanted Howard Jolly to be involved. "I had heard him speak at my church in Niverville. He just had such a passion for sharing and his Ministry of Reconciliation and healing. It was just so impactful there."
"We were thinking about different cultures and we thought including Métis culture also would be a really part of important part of sharing the land in Manitoba. Then we're including our dance ministry team, which is African. Our school represents 14 different people groups, so very diverse within, and we wanted to expand beyond the groups that we currently represent," Wiebe shared.
Onyeka Okoro serves as the development director and is excited to see how everyone connects. "We get to have, like, a melting pot of different cultures and people sharing their own experiences and seeing how we're all unique and how we connect."
Freedom serves students who are two to 10 years behind their Canadian peers. "Most of our students have been through a lot of challenges and obstacles, and they faced a lot of displacements in terms of moving across the world. We are getting them up to speed and filling those educational gaps. We are also aware of their trauma and do the best that we can to incorporate that into our program to make sure that they excel and thrive," Okoro said.
While the school does receive some funding from the government, not every circumstance will meet the deadlines. "Our students are coming from all over the world. We have students who've been in Canada for days or a week. They have almost no English. Some have more, some have less, but they are coming at any time, whenever they're allowed in. That doesn't meet funding deadlines, and the students are coming through all kinds of disruptions to their education, finances, and housing. We want to make sure that there's always this Christ-centred trauma-informed place for students to come and learn," Wiebe said.
The money raised from the benefit concert will go to supporting the work of Freedom International School to ensure Christ-centred, specialized, trauma-informed, accredited high school education is available to all newcomer and former refugee youth, regardless of their financial situation.
Share the Night is in the basement of Mission Baptist Church, 771 Sargent Avenue, at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 25, 2025. Tickets start at $25 and can be purchased here.
A pair of tickets can be won in the CHVN Ticket Window here.