Walk For Values USA - History of Walk for Values

History of Walk for Values

The Sathya Sai School of Toronto

Inspired by Sathya Sai Baba's teachings, the students, teachers and parents of The Sathya Sai School of Toronto, under the leadership of then Principal Thamotharan Pillay, organized the first Walk for Values in the city of Toronto, Canada in 2002. Gaining on the tremendous success of the first Walk, it was followed by Walks every year since then throughout many other cities in Canada with citizens walking for values, cities declaring "Human Values Day," and even mention of the Walk in the Canadian government legislature.

Thousands of ordinary citizens throughout Canada recognized the need to practice the values of love, truth, peace, righteousness, and nonviolence in their lives and wanted to bring this awareness to the communities in which they live. They encouraged their friends and neighbors and other local citizens to become involved in organizing the first Walk for Values. Walking together as kindred spirits, participants raised awareness of the need to practice the values of tolerance, understanding, and respect; values that are gradually being eroded by negative forces. They focused on character building and encouraging role models in the community. These messages were conveyed through songs and decorated floats.

Canada's Walk for Values 2008 took place on May 25.

For more information on Canada's Walk for Values and plans for 2009, please visit their website at http://www.walkforvalues.com/.

The Sathya Sai Organisation of Australia and PNG

Inspired by the idea and success of the Walk for Values program in Canada, the Sathya Sai Organisation of Australia organized their first national Walk for Values on March 24, 2007 in cities across the nation. They had their second walk on April 12, 2008 in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. More than 2,000 men, women and children walked with banners, placards, balloons, brochures and handouts bringing home the need to practice tolerance, respect, love, understanding, character, discipline and togetherness. They performed songs teaching the human values, and listened to speakers including a Member of Parliament.

For more information on Australia's National Walk for Values and plans for 2009, please visit their website at http://www.nationalwalkforvalues.org/index.html.