Celebri-TFE Spotlight in Kimberly Boyd

Celeb-ri-TFE

        (n) 1. someone who has gone out of their way to help Tailored for Education raise money or awareness

It all started when my good friend Kim nominated Tailored for Education for The Park School annual benefit concert.  After the parent's association selected us she didn't just stop there.  Over the past few months Kim has been a true advocate for TFE by organizing an amazing week of awareness for the children at the Park School.  It started with the sale of Tailored for Education pencils each day of the week, then Jess spoke to the 5th through 9th graders on Thursday morning.  The culmination came Thursday night with a fabulous concert full of inspiring songs sung by all of The Park School choirs.  The result was just over $2,000 raised for TFE!  

Kim, thank you for being a supporter from the very beginning!  We are so grateful for everything you have done to help us expand our organization.  Because of you and all of your collegues' hard work we will be able to provide approximately 100 uniforms.

Thank you to Kim and everyone at The Park School!

xo, Megan and Jess

Week in Review

Wednesday was World Malaria Day.  This amazing video illustrates how deadly the disease is and the impact it has on children.  Malaria kills 1500 children a day and is one of the top three killers of children in Africa. 

Dwight from "The Office" helps empower young Haitian girls.

Local project helps educate nursing faculty in Haiti. 

Two different groups bringing science and snow to children in Haiti.

This is a great slide show on 11 brands that give back.  Not to mention some very pretty things!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

xo, Megan and Jess

Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our 30 for 30 campaign last week!  We are proud to announce that we raised enough money to provide approximately 35 uniforms!

Needless to say we are very excited......

xo, Megan and Jess

An "Earth Day" post for Jess

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESS!

It seems appropriate to take a break from TFE to wish the best friend, mother, co-founder and co-worker I know a very Happy 30th Birthday!

I can't say enough about what an amazing person Jess is.  Those of you that know her understand what I mean; those of you that don't...well you are missing out.  She is kind, caring, funny, smart, hard working, determined and I consider myself beyond lucky to spend every work day with her.  The first thing she asked me when we met in my interview four years ago was "Do you like country music?"  I knew from that moment we would be friends, but had no idea what GREAT friends we would become.

Since then we have celebrated a few birthdays, made it through the GMAT, survived business school, she has gotten married and had an amazing son, we've run a half marathon together, taken trips to NYC, Nashville and Bretton Woods and we've started (what we think) is an amazing non-profit.  One year (almost to the day) after finishing grad school I told her about how I wanted to provide uniforms to children in need.  When I asked if she wanted to help Jess immediately said "YES," without missing a beat.  I will never forget that moment, I am so thankful she said yes because I certainly could not have done it alone!

Jess, thank you for being such a great friend.  You inspire me, challenge me and make me laugh.  In honor of your 30th Birthday here are 30 reasons (I know there are more) why you are such a wonderful person and bring joy to so many (these are not in order of importance):

1- You are an amazing Mother
2- You have a BIG heart
3- You put everyone before yourself
4- You have really shiny hair (like Kate Middleton)
5- You put up with all of my freak out moments
6- Our diary items
7- You gave me a phenomenal godson
8- You are a great listener (even when I am on repeat)
9- You are adventurous
10- Your Troop Beverly Hills dress and white halter top
11- Your spreadsheets
12- Four Seasons (enough said)
13- You stopped me from eating two breakfast sandwiches that one time
14- You capture every moment with tons of pictures
15- You get dessert when you are out to dinner
16- You exercise religiously and have motivated me from the day I met you
17- Your sense of humor
18- You work "sympathy" European hours when I do
19- You have the best cereal selection in the whole state
20- You tried to set me up with a pedicab driver once (mid-ride)
21- Our shopping spree at the outlets
22- You over blushed in the picture above (I do all the time so this picture makes me feel better)
23- You bring me leftovers when you make a good dinner
24- You took the "long way" with me many times in b-school, while pregnant
25- You let me wear the MJ jacket out (pictured above)
26- You are really good at yoga
27- You share your maple candies with me
28- You throw great parties
29- You had three American Girl dolls (this is just jealously related)
30- No matter how old we get, you will always be older than me

I could go on for a while, but will save the rest of the list for birthdays to come.  Happy, happy birthday sweet friend.  I can't wait to see what the next chapter holds!

xo, Megan

PS.  For all you that haven't donated today is the last day of our 30 for 30 challenge.  Help us reach our goal of 30 donations by clicking here. 
 

One shopping day left!

With only one shopping day left until Jess enters a NEW DECADE, we wanted to remind you to participate in our 30 for 30 campaign and make Jess's birthday wish come true by providing a child with a school uniform.

 You don't want to upset the birthday girl...see above photo for previous birthday frustration.  Shopping has never been easier!  ---> SHOP HERE!

Have a great weekend!

30 for 30

Only two days left to donate a uniform for our 30 for 30 campaign in honor of Jess's 30th Birthday on Sunday!  To all of those who have donated already, thank you.  To those of you who haven't there is still time to help us reach 30 donations!  

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

xo, Megan and Jess

Week in Review

Every year on Marathon Monday we find ourselves inspired especially by those running for such amazing causes. 

This article by actress Olivia Wilde paints a sad picture for the cholera epidemic in Haiti and how it originated.  The trailer for Baseball in the Time of Cholera (produced by Wilde) brought me to tears. 

Megan White Murkuria is certainly bringing hope to girls in Nairobi, Kenya. 

One of the big problems in Haiti is children being forced to work as domestic servants, known as "restaveks."  This group organized a day to focus on restaveks and the importance of children receiving an education. 

Ecole Jean Paul II in Haiti celebrates their 25th anniversary, reinforcing the importance of education for the children of Haiti. 

xo, Megan and Jess

Jess's 30th Birthday Wish

With only three shopping days left until my 30th birthday, I am sure you all are stressed about finding the perfect gift.  Well, this year my birthday wish is slightly different so please return all the jewels and click here (as Ina Garten says "how easy is that?")! 

Today we launch our 30 for 30 campaign in honor of my birthday on Sunday!  That's right, all I want for my birthday is 30 new donations.  Nothing would make me happier (and make turning 30 easier) than to know that 30 children would have a chance to change their lives by receiving an education with the help of 30 brand new donors!     

Please pass this along and help us reach our goal!

xo, Jess

BTIG Commissions for Charity Day 2012

For the past 9 year BTIG has held Commissions for Charity Day, to donate all of the commissions received on that day to a number of children's charities.  We are honored and excited to be chosen as one of the recipients this year and be part of such a special event!  In this video co-founder, Steven Starker discusses how Commissions for Charity Day works.   

xo, Megan and Jess

Celebri-TFE Spotlight on Michelle Danis, Jenni Ulicky & EF Education

Celeb-ri-TFE
        (n) 1. someone who has gone out of their way to help Tailored for Education raise money or awareness

This week we want to thank Michelle Danis, Jenni Ulicky and all the cupcake consumers at EF for working together to raise money for Tailored for Education! Jenni regularly uses her amazing baking skills to provide treats to her coworkers in exchange for their donations to worthy causes. 

While Jenni often bakes for no special occasion, this particular day she baked in honor of Michelle's birthday and Michelle directed the proceeds to TFE.  Thank you to all involved - we are very grateful and heard the pistachio cupcakes were delicious!

Michelle, Jenni and EF employees, thank you so much!

Stay tuned for more Celebri-TFE profiles!

xo, Megan and Jess

Week in Review

It has been a busy week around here!  We wired money for our newest project in Nairobi, (yay!) set up a some exciting meetings for next week, and made some good headway on a few upcoming projects!  We can't wait to tell you all about the project in Nairobi and the amazing organization we have been working with.  Until then......

Malawi's former President passed away last week from a heart attack.  Last weekend the country's new President Joyce Banda was sworn in making her the second female President in Africa.  This article gives a great picture of the landscape Joyce will face.   

The cholera outbreak has been ongoing in Haiti since October of 2010.  While many believe believe a cholera vaccine won't work in Haiti Partners in Health is doing their best to prove these skeptics wrong. They will be vaccinating 50,000 people in a rural area and you can follow their progress here.

There was good news from the World Bank this week as they announced that "the number of people living in 'extreme poverty' decreased by 100 million between 2005 and 2008."  This is has continued to 2010 but, how do we get those still living in poverty out?

Do you know where your taxes go?

I am headed to NYC this weekend and can't wait to check out Treasure and Bond!  This "charitable concept store" by Nordstroms gives 100% of after-cost proceeds to charities in NYC.  What an amazing idea! 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and GO SOX!

xo, Megan and Jess

Country Spotlight on El Salvador

We just finished up a project in El Salvador providing 794 uniforms to children at the Liceo Cristiano schools.  We are waiting on pictures but in the meantime here is a short profile on El Salvador.

Population: 6.1 million

Area: 8,008 square miles (about the size of Massachusetts)

Literacy: 86.1% nationally; 77.6% in rural areas

Number of children of primary school: 47,632

Secondary school participation rate (boys): 54%

Secondary school participation rate (girls): 56%

30.6% of the population is between 0-14 years of age

Average years of schooling for adults: 5.2 years

Education expenditures: 3.6% of GDP

Per capita income: $3,431

The crime rates are the second highest in the world with intentional homicide rates of 71 per everyone 100,000 people (the US is 4.8 per 100,000). 

This article highlights the problems facing El Salvador's residents.  Education is one of the key ways to decrease crime rates over the next generation, keeping children in school and out of gangs.  We can wait to tell you more about our partnership in El Salvador and share personal stories about the children living there! 

xo, Megan and Jess

Sources (1) (2) (3)

Price Check

Although the Easter bunny came to visit, Cadbury Mini Eggs and Brach's jelly beans are hard to resist.  Especially when it is on sale! Let's think about changing our tune this year!

Hope you all had wonderful weekend and a very Happy Easter and Passover!

xo, Megan and Jess

Week in Review

There are 1,000,000 children at risk of dying from malnutrition in Sahel.  UNICEF put out this video to help spread the word before it is too late.  Click here to learn more about how you can help.

Our hearts go out to those in Mathare who lost their loved ones this week.

For our supporters in New York, this run is helping get Haitian children to school.  Run through Central Park and help children be able to attend school?  Sounds like a great plan to us!

We are so inspired by Fr. José “Pepe” Moratalla's work in El Salvador to decrease rates of violence through education. 

I was so excited for my JADEtribe make-up bag from Histoire to arrive this week.  The packaging at Histoire says it all "created by hands.  packaged with conscience. making goodness happen."  So not only is my new JADEtribe make-up bag great looking it is handmade from organically dyed and recycled textiles by tribal women in Asia.  JADEtribe was started when designer Kimberly Hartman traveled to Southeast Asia and now she works with women in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.  Thanks to Histoire and JADEtribe every time I look at my new bag I will think about our upcoming project to provide 3,400 uniforms to children in Cambodia.

Hope you all have a wonderful long weekend!  We are looking forward to some much needed time with our families!

xo, Megan and Jess

Price Check

We all know how Mega Millions captivated the country last week.  As we dreamt about all that could be done if Tailored for Education was the lucky winner of half a billion dollars, we couldn't help but think about about far $15 could go when used to provide a school uniform.

xo, Megan and Jess

Celebri-TFE Spotlight on Katie Farrow and TBC

Celeb-ri-TFE
    (n) 1. someone who has gone out of their way to help Tailored for Education raise money or awareness

Our first Celebri- TFE is Katie Farrow and all of the employees at TBC that participated in dress down Fridays in order to raise money for Tailored for Education!  We are so grateful to you all!

TBC employees dressed in "uniforms" for the Subway Series:

Katie and all of the TBC employees, thank you so much!  

Stay tuned for more Celebri-TFE profiles.  There are so many people doing great things to help TFE and we are grateful to all of you!

xo, Megan and Jess