A celebrity-packed We Day event in Saskatoon Wednesday attracted some 15,000 school-aged youths.

One of the goals of We Day is to inspire young people to take on worthy projects.

The message was delivered by celebrities, including actor Martin Sheen.

"We failed in so many areas — particularly in environment and feeding the world," Sheen said. "Now it's incumbent upon these young people to see the mistakes that we made and not to repeat them."

Another Hollywood celebrity, Mia Farrow, said she was honoured to be a part of the program.

"To give kids a way of helping other kids is ... a gift," she said.

"You don't have to have a lot of money," Farrow added, talking about the ways young people can contribute. "You just have to have the dedication to search for a project that means something to you and you can help people a world away or people who are struggling in your own community."

Prior to Wednesday, the students at the We Day event participated in collecting 30,000 pounds of food for charities in their communities.

The students came from 300 schools, across the Saskatchewan, for the event which was billed as the first of its kind in North America.

With files from CBC's Peter Mills