PURPLE DAY for EPILEPSY in USA UK and AUS

Preparation: purple – Purple Day 26 March!

Epilepsy Action chief executive, Philip Lee, calls on all readers to get purplicious on the global day for epilepsy awareness – Purple Day! Whether raising money, awareness or simply smiles, find out how you can get involved.

Make a donation to Epilepsy Action

Every donation, no matter how large or small, helps to build a brighter future for people with epilepsy. Thank you for your support.

 

 

Thursday 26 March is Purple Day – my absolute favorite day at work. Founded by Cassidy Megan in 2008, it is the one day of the year when we all work together to help make epilepsy visible. You, me, Cassidy and the world! It is the day when people without epilepsy ask: ‘Why purple? What is epilepsy?’
The event can be a lot of fun. Still, among photos of purple wristbands, violet hair and lavender socks, braces and cakes, we also share serious messages about epilepsy. Here are a few ideas on how we can work together again this year to make Purple Day bigger, bolder and purpler than ever before!

Pick up a purple pack

Once again, we are urging everybody to turn their world purple on 26 March! You can do this in any old way you choose – but if you aren’t sure where to start, help is at hand.

Your purple fundraising toolkit is available now. It is a comprehensive pack of resources to help you hold all kinds of events and initiatives to celebrate Purple Day. You may want to raise money to help people with epilepsy or simply raise awareness of the condition in the general public. Either way, there are tonnes of ways to do this, including:

• Dressing in purple – Whether you’re in the office, at school or out and about in your local community – get everyone to dress in purple!
• Painting yourself purple – Get sponsored to paint your hair, your face or even your moustache
• Having a cake sale – Everyone loves cake. Why not organise a purple bake-off and sell your delicious wares to family and friends or colleagues?

You may have another idea for a fundraising event of your own. Whatever your idea, Your purple fundraising toolkit is packed full of things to help you: purplicious balloons, stickers, posters and a Purple Day collection box.

Meanwhile, why not show your support for Epilepsy Action by wearing a Purple Day wristband (pictured)? This helps raise awareness and can be a talking point – to help you broach the issue and openly discuss epilepsy.

Visit Epilepsy Action’s Purple Day web page where, you can register for Your purple fundraising toolkit or follow links to buy a wristband in the online shop. Remember: whatever you decide to do, make sure you do it purple!

Help us ask: What does epilepsy look like?

Epilepsy is often referred to as the ‘hidden condition’. This is because, unless someone sees you having a seizure, they often have no idea that you have epilepsy! This often means that some people have very little understanding of what epilepsy really is. Or, that there are over 40 different types of epilepsy and types of seizure. Or, that it can affect everyone differently.
We need your help to change this. Last year, we began opening the eyes of the general public, with the help of our supporters, Megan, George, Charlea and Ruth. In a new campaign, we asked the general public: What does epilepsy look like?
The responses were amazing – and one year on, we are looking for people just like you to join us and tell your story. All you need to do is share a photo or image and tell us about your life with epilepsy. If you want to get involved and help challenge epilepsy misconceptions, email campaigns@epilepsy.org now!

Purple Day: literally a landmark event

Is there a landmark or venue in your area that would really attract attention if it was purple?  There might be a special building or fountain, local town hall, council chambers, shopping centre or entertainment arena. You might even want to see your local sports team all in purple.
Why not help us turn the UK purple for 24 hours? Last year, venues across the UK all lit up purple on 26 March to raise awareness of epilepsy. These included London King’s Cross mainline station, The Blackpool Tower and Leeds’ First Direct arena. This year, we hope that we can do even better – but we need your help!  
We have a letter that we would like you to send or email to the owner/manager of your local landmark, requesting their support on 26 March 2015. You can get a copy of the Purple Day landmark letter on Epilepsy Action’s Purple Day webpage.
Please remember to let us know how you get on – especially if your local landmark is going purple! Just let us know the landmark and its location by emailing campaigns@epilepsy.org

Support Purple Day

If you’re struggling for inspiration, there are three simple ways you get help get people talking about epilepsy this Purple Day!

• Download and print off Epilepsy Action’s awareness-raising poster from Epilepsy Action's . Then, simply find somewhere to put it for all to see. You might display it in your bedroom window or on your noticeboard at work. You might ask someone in your local library, GP surgery or community centre to display the poster for at least one day
• Follow Epilepsy Action on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest and tell us about everything you are doing to celebrate Purple Day
• Remember to share all Epilepsy Action’s What does epilepsy look like? stories on Purple Day. You will find them on the organisation’s Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest accounts and our website. Please re-tweet, like and share them all – so that we can reach as many people as possible.

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PURPLE DAY FOR EPILEPSY

Go Purple on 26 March each year and help spread awareness of epilepsy

Purple Day is a grassroots effort dedicated to increasing awareness about epilepsy worldwide. On 26 March each year, people from around the globe are asked to spread the word about epilepsy by wearing purple.
Founded in 2008 by then nine-year-old Cassidy Megan of Nova Scotia, Canada, Cassidy started Purple Day in an effort to get people talking about the disorder and inform those with seizures that they are not alone. Cassidy named the day ‘Purple Day’ after the internationally recognised colour for epilepsy - lavender.
 
Epilepsy Australia is the official Australian partner of Purple Day and has joined up with other epilepsy organizations from across the globe including Canada, USA, UK and South Africa to make Purple Day even bigger. The Epilepsy Foundation is the Victorian member of Epilepsy Australia and is proud to have the official role of promoting Purple Day here in Victoria.

Get involved and go purple! 

Check out our 26 Days 26 Ways to make a difference campiagn. For the 26 days that lead up to International Purple Day for Epilepsy we have created a list of 26 ways that you can be involved.
So get involved, help us increase awareness of epilepsy and raise funds. By doing so, your valued fundraising efforts will assist us to provide vital services and programs for the 220,000 Victorians who will have epilepsy during their lifetime.
Here are a few ‘Purple Day’ ideas to get you started:

• Wear purple on 26 March and encourage your family, friends and colleagues to join you
  
• Register for a Purple Day Information Kit for you, your workplace or school (email Emma Moore for your copy today)
  
• Host a Purple Day party or fundraising event on or before Purple Day
  
• Become a Purple Day Hero - create your own fundraising page, set a goal and approach those you know for a tax deductible donation.
  
• Become an official Ambassador of Purple and help promote Purple Day - email Emma purple@epilepsy.asn.au
  
• Buy and/or sell our new Purple Day merchandise including our purple pens, purple awareness ribbons and our purple badges in the shape of an 'e' for epilepsy
  
• Encourage your local community, schools and businesses to get involved by holding a purple dress day in return for a gold coin donation
  

A message from Cassidy Megan - Founder of Purple Day

Hi, my name is Cassidy Megan. I'm 10 years old and I have epilepsy. I started Purple Day because I wanted to tell everyone about epilepsy, especially that all seizures are not the same and that people with epilepsy are ordinary people just like everyone else. I also wanted kids with epilepsy to know that they are not alone.
Before I started Purple Day, I was afraid to tell people about my epilepsy because I thought they would make fun of me. After the Epilepsy Association of Nova Scotia, Canada, did a presentation in my class, I started to talk with the other kids about my seizures. That is when I decided to become a spokesperson for kids with epilepsy.
Please join me in wearing purple on March 26th to support epilepsy awareness.
Cassidy (2008)

Social Entrepreneurs Are Ordinary People Who Dare To Dream

Remember when you thought anything was possible? Remember when you were a child and you dreamed of big things and big adventures? When did we forget how to dream, why did we settle for less?
Social Entrepreneurs are not extraordinary people…in fact most of them are quite ordinary but they all are big dreamers. Dreams give us hope and pave the way for the future. Social entrepreneurs are passionate about seeing change and see things as they should be, not as they are. They believe anything is possible. It is this belief that makes things happen.


A social entrepreneur is someone who is driven by a social mission, a desire to find innovative ways to solve social problems.  They are creative individuals who question the status quo, exploit new opportunities, refuse to give up, and make the world a better place.

David Bornstein specialises in writing about social innovation. He is the author of “How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas”. This is what he had to say about social entrepreneurs: “Researching this book has taught me that ordinary people have far more capacity and potential than they ever know or use. Many of the people I have interviewed who have done remarkable things are far from ‘extraordinary.’ The main quality they share is a belief that they can make a difference. They are not without self-doubts and they are not geniuses. But they have initiative, they listen to their instincts and they take action. Above all, they begin. I suspect that there are millions of people out there who could bring important changes to their corners of the world–and who would find great fulfillment doing so.”
We will find times in our lives when opportunities come along to make an impact in the world, to make a difference, to bring change. It is what we do with these opportunities that will determine the legacy we leave and the mark we make on the world.

Kids As Social Entrepreneurs?

Kids changing the world… one act at a time.

More and more, kids are wanting to have a positive impact in the world. They are taking action and mobilizing other kids to address problems from infant mortality in developing nations to neighborhood concerns. They are donating to charities, volunteering to help others and even engaging in social entrepreneurship. They are taking the passion they feel about a cause and undertaking a business-like activity that earns money (or provides other resources) to support that cause.

Alex Scott, for example, was four years old and battling cancer when she started a lemonade stand to raise money for cancer research. After a year, she had raised $2,000. By the time she was eight, she had raised $1 million through the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Many kids like Alex are motivated to pursue a social entrepreneurial activity because they’ve been touched by something serious or significant and are moved to take action. They have had a personal experience with the problem. More often than not, though, these children would be hard pressed to pursue social entrepreneurship without the support and guidance of an adult.


Almost all kids would like to be more involved, only about half are actually participating in giving back to their community. There is much less opportunity for the younger kids to fulfill this need  and they simply can’t take this initiative on their own. The study by Just Kid Inc on Kids as a force for social change, revealed that about 9 out of 10 kids believe that it is extremely, very or somewhat important to help others or give back to their community. Many have displayed the important role of service in their lives over the past year, through their service activities. It seems that the involvement in parents, had an impact on the child and if a parent was involved in community service, their children would follow suit.

Social Entrepreneurial Initiatives for Kids

While teaching children to run businesses on their own or learn to create a spreadsheet is not appropriate, we could impart the basic concepts of social entrepreneurship to kids at an early age.  It will lay the foundation for participating on a bigger scale as they grow older.

Many Social Entrepreneurial organizations such as Ashoka, EchoingGreen, and the Skoll Foundation are inspiring and supporting teens and young adults to be social entrepreneurs. Thanks to these organizations and others, the field of social entrepreneurship has expanded significantly. However, little attention is being given to teaching our nation’s youngest entrepreneurial talent — our future problem solvers.

YesKidzCan is an organization that is empowering kids to engage in Social Entrepreneurship.  They recently launched the Social KidPreneuerz Awards Program. The goal of the program is to make $100 awards to kids in grades 3 through 5 and inspire them to undertake an entrepreneurial activity that benefits society. Each award brings with it a substantial feeling of responsibility and ownership and requires a commitment to complete the task. Their intention is to plant the seeds of social entrepreneurship among younger generations, instilling in them a belief that they can shape their world. They are also developing learning tools for parents, teachers, and community/faith leaders to use with students, either independently or in conjunction with the award application process.

Not every child is suited to be a social entrepreneur but they do have the natural curiosity, imagination, drive, and ability to come up with innovative ways to change the world for the better. By giving them opportunities to get involved and supporting them, we are teaching them they have what it takes to “be the change.” David Bornstein, a well-known expert on social entrepreneurs, , puts it this way: Once an individual has experienced the power of social entrepreneurship, he or she will “never go back to being a passive actor in society.”
When kids start from a young age, they are more likely to lead and create positive change throughout their lives. The result…more social entrepreneurs bringing change…now that has to be a good thing!!