Walk for Values

The Walk for Values is a non-monetary walk designed to promote individual responsibility towards the collective future of humanity, one step at a time. This unique initiative is part of a global drive to seed the consciousness with global affirmations such as love, hope, optimism, consideration, kindness, patience, honesty, integrity, forgiveness, acceptance, charity, volunteerism... It calls for an honest self-appraisal from its participants who identify one area of personal growth that needs to be strengthened and then pledge the needed self-improvement.

Uniqueness of the Walk - Pledges sought in £ove
The uniqueness of the event is that it is neither a fundraiser nor a solicitation for monetary pledges. Rather, it promotes inner growth as an investment in personal and global awakening… a deposit in the future of all life forms on this planet including humanity. Participants in Canada, Australia and USA march forward to fight social evils with weapons of mass appeal - universal human values.

In Toronto, the 2 to 4 kilometer Walk occurs annually in the month of May or early June. The city transforms into Valueville and rocks to the rhythm of optimism and hope, compassion and consideration, acceptance and affirmation as Toronto’s multicultural population gets serious about taking universal human values mainstream.

Participation: Open to All, No Fee or money involved
The Walk is open to everyone: youth, children, adults, seniors and groups representing schools, businesses, communities or faith groups. The walk involves diverse community groups who join hands to make the world a better place by carrying banners with quotes about values, ethics, morality and service; and through value songs, music, marching bands and colourful floats.

History of the Walk for Values
In September 2000, with the founding of the Sathya Sai School of Canada, North American parents experienced the life-transforming impact of the holistic system of learning based on character education. The integration of the universal human values of Truth, Right Conduct, Love, Peace and Non-violence into the Ontario academic curriculum yielded results that extended beyond the students’ personal growth, to their families, impacting the home environment positively. The grateful parents wanted to share their joy by taking the same message further into the wider community. Thus in 2003, the idea of the unique community outreach project the Walk for Values was born and right from the outset, it struck an instant chord with caring Canadians, growing into a national and now an international event.

2003 - Malvern - The Birth of the Walk for Values
The event was planned to raise awareness of the importance and practice of values. There were many Walks in the community of Malvern in the past but all of them were to raise money for a particular cause or project that had a definite beginning and end date. None existed to foster a sense of community and bring about an overall change in the world. It was therefore fitting that the W4V in 2003 started in Malvern and ended at the very first site of the Sathya Sai School, at Finch Road on Markham.
Almost 3000 men, women and children led by the students of the Sathya Sai School sang Value songs and carried banners on the 5 values as united and kindred spirits in colorful parade for 3.5 km from the Malvern Recreation Centre to the School.

2004 - Thompson Park
Participants turned up at the corner of Brimley and Lawrence on Saturday, May 29 to walk the 3 km distance to Scarborough Civic Centre. Instead of the conventional dollar sign or a political agenda, pledges at this unusual Walk for Values included virtues such as charity, volunteering, forgiveness, compassion, punctuality, appreciation, gratitude, affection, politeness, patience and the like. The participants made personal promises to change the world around them by changing themselves first. The organizers presented a plaque to the City of Toronto on behalf of the participants giving their pledge.

2005 - Malvern
At the third annual Walk for Values of the Sathya Sai School on Sunday, May 29, friends of the school turned up in unprecedented numbers to walk the talk about human values along the 4 km distance in the Malvern community, in the east end of Toronto.

Led by Superintendent of the 42 Division of the Toronto Police Force, Superintendent Tony Warr, City Councillor Raymond Cho, Trustees of the Sri Sathya Sai Education Trust of Canada and over three thousand of the school’s supporters from around the Greater Toronto Area, the Walk for Values 2005 was a bigger success than ever before. Participants included babies in strollers to 81 year old Pauline Proulx, a school volunteer and supporter and everyone in between. Many residents stood on the side walk or waved from their windows. Many of the TPS officers were carrying the values flags as a sign of solidarity. Smiling faces were seen all along the route.

2006 - Malvern
On May 28, 2006 under clear and sunny skies, the students of the Sathya Sai School led around 3,000 members from the community down the streets of the Malvern area in Scarborough seeking pledges of self-improvement and transformation of the society. Participants included Honorable Harinder Takhar, Minister of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, MPP Bas Balkissoon, City Councilor Raymond Cho and many community leaders who believed in raising the Character of the City. Apart from the grand event held in Toronto, 13 other Canadian cities 'walked the values talk,' to express their support for the universal human values.

The efforts of the participants of 4 km walk were commendable and were highly appreciated as per the announcement made in the Ontario Provincial Legislature on May 30, 2006 praising the Sathya Sai School for the initiative along with the Toronto Metro Police who have been under strong support of this project.

2007 - Downtown Toronto
By great public demand this popular event was brought to Toronto Downtown on a larger scale for the fifth year as over five thousand caring and responsible Toronto residents along with scores of American and Europeans citizens poured into Yonge-Dundas Square for the annual walk. They all lovingly walked 2.5 km route in the prime streets through the downtown core, raising the level of human commitment towards universal human values of Truth, Right Conduct, Peace, Love and Non-Violence that transcend barriers of race, religion, culture and ethnicity.

Thousands of onlookers, tourists, drivers and shoppers along the busy streets got the message about character development and practicing human values in daily lives. The response from even the most casual passers-by was warm and welcoming. The Walk concluded at Yonge-Dundas Square with a multi-cultural program performed by different ethnic groups and Sathya Sai School children. The participants had the opportunity to view exhibits on human values and positive inspirations for social transformation through personal growth.

National Event and International Fame: An event as unique as its birth place - city of Toronto, the Walk for Values is now being celebrated nationally across Canada with nine cities: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Kingston and Ottawa.

Since 2007, the Walk for Values has acquired international fame with conscientious Australians replicating Toronto’s brainchild nationally in six major cities down under - Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. In addition, select jurisdictions in the United States of America started their own walks on the same theme of global transformation through self-improvement.

References / See also
*Walk for Values
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