THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS!
Welcome to World Youth Day 2008; the biggest event in Australia’s history.
WYD08 is organised by the Catholic Church and gathers young people from around the world to build bridges of friendship and hope between continents, peoples and cultures.
This is the largest Youth event in the world and takes around three years to plan, prepare and implement. It is only the second time that this event has been held in the Southern Hemisphere and the very first time that it has been held in Australia.
WYD08 was staged from Tuesday 15th July to Sunday 20th July 2008 during the school holidays and will be located at numerous venues and sites throughout Sydney.
It was not merely one large event like New Years Eve or Big Day Out, but a six day series of events, ending with the Papal Mass at Randwick Racecourse.
With more attendees over a shorter period of time, this event was bigger than the 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Over 500,000 people visited the Sydney CBD during the event.
With attendance at some of the larger venues ranging from 45,000 to 500,000 people, St John had over 700 volunteers servicing this mega event.