A busy fall!

While summer isn’t officially over yet, the feeling of fall is certainly in the air – especially with the start of another school year. This is always a poignant time for us as we think of the millions of children who have yet to take a step into a classroom. How can we best support access to school for all children, particularly girls? How can we ensure that the kids who do get to school are receiving a quality education?

We have four activities planned this fall to help share our answers to these questions!!

In mid-October, we will present the technical results of the two phases of our pilot project on self-directed learning in a rural community in Sierra Leone at Concordia University. Alumni and students of the Department of Education have been invited to attend. What an opportunity for us to discuss what we have accomplished and to exchange ideas with such knowledgeable individuals!

Starting on October 23rd, and running for one month, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts will present an exhibition of photos from 60 million girls’ projects! Manuela Clément-Frencia, of our executive committee, visited four of our projects in India, Kenya and Ethiopia with a team of talented professional photographers. This is a unique occasion to see portraits of some of the girls from the programs your donations have supported!Admission to the exhibition is free. Read more about the exhibition in this MBAM press release.

And, of course, there is our annual conference on Tuesday November 4th. We hope that you will attend to hear what we’ve been up to!! Our guest speaker will be Bev Carrick, co-founder of CAUSE Canada, our partner in Sierra Leone. Bev will share her vast development experience and talk more specifically about our project on girls’ education and our new pilot project. We will also be joined by a representative of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) who will talk about education statistics in the developing world – and the impact of the vast research and compilation of data being done on projects such as ours and on our vision for the future..

Not to be outdone, our BC Chapter is organizing an amazing conference on Sunday, November 9th, in Vancouver, with guest speaker Stephanie Nolen of The Globe and Mail. It would be difficult to find a more experienced and insightful journalist with such a deep interest in women’s issues and girls’ education.

So, the 60 million girls team has not been vacationing too much this summer as we prepare for all these events. We appreciate your support and hope to count on you to come to our annual conference and share information about our event with your network of contacts.

As you know, we spend less than 1% of revenues on administration. We don’t advertise or print brochures!! It is through word of mouth and your belief in these transformative projects that we can continue funding girls’ education! Bring a friend and watch us do even more!!

Wanda Bedard
President, 60 million girls Foundation

Collège Sainte-Anne – a truly international outlook!

Collège Sainte-Anne de Lachine has been a long-time supporter of 60 million girls. Together, we have worked on many activities, in particular, through its DéfiMonde (World Challenge) Program. Once again, this year, CSA has gone beyond just talking about making a difference to concretely putting their talents at our disposal. It has been instrumental in helping us further develop and test the technical support for our pilot project on self-directed learning in Sierra Leone. A big thank-you to Michel Twigg, Marc Gallucio and the whole CSA community for their enthusiasm and innovative ideas!

Fundraising with a flair

UniAction, founded by Thi Be Nguyen, one of our tireless volunteers, organized an elegant evening to support 60 million girls. The event took place on September 13th at the Chez Chine Restaurant at the Holiday Inn Select in downtown Montreal. 150 guests were regaled with a sumptuous 10-course Chinese dinner, a silent auction, an art exhibition, a fashion show featuring volunteers from the Foundation and, to culminate the evening, a raffle. In addition, two of our Olympic athletes, Joannie Rochette and Jennifer Jones were on hand to lend their support to the event. Guests who participated in the VIP cocktail party beforehand were able to have their photos taken with these star athletes.

At the end of the evening, a cheque for $25,000 was presented to Wanda Bedard. Our thanks to Thi Be and all those who participated in this amazing event. The proceeds will go a long way towards providing support for this year’s two projects in Kenya and Afghanistan.

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60 million girls is committed to investing every dollar donated by you towards education projects that will have the greatest possible long-term and sustainable impact. However, we are always looking for ways to improve our visibility and to attract more followers. Please don’t hesitate to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and connect with us on LinkedIn. We’ll look forward to you and your friends joining our ranks on all the social media at our fingertips!