PARTNER SPOTLIGHT

We invite you to get acquainted with Dan and Bev Foote, the founders of We Believe in New Brunswick, Canada. We are excited to build this partnership, introduce Victoria’s Voice resources to our Canadian neighbors, and welcome the powerful We Believe youth conference stateside in 2025.

How was We Believe conceived?
In October 2016, I attended an inspiring event in Halifax, Nova Scotia. When Bev and I joined our friend Cory and his wife Anika for supper the following December, Cory suggested that we do a similar event here in Saint John, New Brunswick, to empower our youth to be the change they desire to be in this world.

When we began fundraising in January 2017, our mission was clear: We believe that when people come together under a common cause that amazing things can and do happen. 

In May 2018, We Believe took the stage at TD Station in Saint John, New Brunswick. We filled TD Station with 8,000 engaged kids and educators that day. Since then, we have only looked forward!

We are excited to once again be filling TD Station in May 2025 to share empowering messages on the value of mental and physical wellness, service learning, and the power to overcome. The 2025 event will introduce Victoria’s Voice to our Canadian audience, with presentations by Director of School Programs Michael DeLeon and NFL legend and youth program collaborator Fred Stokes. We will have many other speakers and musicians as well, from Olympians to world-renowned speakers and a mini concert by No Lonely Hearts.

What are your primary goals for the year ahead?
We are excited to bring We Believe to Nashville in 2025. We are also now planning events in Ottawa in 2025 and Toronto and Vancouver in 2026. If anyone is interested in attending or learning more about the event, please visit our website at https://www.webelieve.ca/the-event.

What drives the work you do at We Believe?
Let me tell you a story. In 2018, Bev and I had a student we will call Olivia in our classroom. She was born and raised in Vancouver and came to New Brunswick during middle school to live with her father’s ex-girlfriend after her father and mother could no longer take care of her.

In time, Olivia slowly shared her story with us. She disclosed the harsh details about her upbringing and how fearful she was for her life when she lived with her mom. Her mom did not have a stable income, and there were men in and out of Olivia’s home. Olivia was in and out of her home, too, spending periods of time in group homes and shelters.

Olivia ended up speaking at We Believe that year first year. She gave few details about her own story and focused her messaging on the importance of supporting people in their time of need. Two weeks after the event, Bev asked Olivia how she was going to move forward now and positively impact others. Olivia knew exactly what she wanted to do. She remembered that each time she was removed from her mother’s care, she wasn’t allowed to take any of her belongings with her. She knew what it felt like to be left with nothing, so she started a program to support other kids going into the child welfare system. After a lot of hard work, we had enough donations to fill 56 drawstring bags with everything from notebooks, pens, and paper to snacks, toiletries and—always—a stuffed animal. It was important to Olivia that the children have these comforts because she never had them herself.

Now, with her college degree in hand, Olivia is once again working with us to restart her program. It’s become a passion of hers—a drive to action—to be able to help kids and moms going into shelters. It is because of people like Olivia that we do what we do. It’s great to listen to inspiring speakers, but you need to decide what you will do with that information afterwards. Will you start an impactful program like Olivia’s or our Empowered To Ride program? Run a leadership group in your school? Support others in their time of need?

Finding that passion and purpose can change young lives in astonishing ways. And these young lives go on to do astonishing things in their communities.