Week in Review

We are so excited about the premiere of Half Sky's documentary airing on Oct. 1st and 2nd on PBS.  I am halfway through the book and have never been more sad and inspired at the same time! 

A wonderful piece on the most critical time in a child's life, the first 1,000 days.  Proper nutrition and getting the into the classroom will have life long effects, not only on the child but the whole country. 

This week the UN pledged to new initiative to make education a global priority and put every child in school, Education First.  Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General of the UN wrote this compelling narrative on the right for every child to receive an education.  "The power of education to transform lives is universal. When you ask parents what they want for their children -- even in war zones and disaster areas -- they seek the same thing first: education. Parents want their children in school."

Haitian coaches go to Portland to learn how to use soccer to teach young people about healthy behaviors and HIV/AIDS prevention.

Barclay's new initiative helps empower Kenya's youth while Credit Suisse is supporting the Cambodian Children's Fund to help ensure that the children of Cambodia receive an education. 

More on the UN's Education First

Happy weekend everyone!  We will be busy preparing for two BIG annoucements over the next two weeks!

xo, Megan and Jess

Celeb-ri-TFE spotlight on Elaine Donohue

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

This week the Celeb-ri-TFE spot light is on ELAINE DONOHUE!  A few weeks ago Elaine devoted a whole night to photographing us and our one for one product (coming VERY soon).  Elaine is a full time scientist (that's right folks) AND full time photographer and it was unbelievably kind for her to make time for us, especially in the middle of wedding season!  You can check out her amazing work here.  We are so grateful for our amazing photographs, (and to have Elaine as a friend) which you will all be seeing very soon!  

Elaine, thank you so much for helping us and supporting TFE!  We can't wait to have your beautiful work up on our website!  

xo, Megan and Jess



It's all worth it

Below is one of the thank you letters we received from El Salvador, translated from Spanish.

------------------------------------------

I’d like to thank God for this opportunity to address you. 

I’d like to share the story of our lives with you.  I have four

 children in the San Jose Christian High School of El Naranjo.

We are a family of limited economic resources since my

husband works as a grain and corn cultivator for the daily

sustenance of our family, which is why we were not able to

obtain a uniform because we do not have a monthly salary.  

We dedicate ourselves to caring for the sowing season in

order to have food for the rest of the year, and so we could

not buy uniforms for our children.  But we thank God and we

thank you because now each of our children can have a

uniform and this is a great blessing to the lives of our

children and the whole family.

May God bless you in a special way.

                                                                        F. Luz González

                                                                        Mother of a family

Reading this makes it all worth it :)

XOXO,

Megan & Jess

Week in Review

This week has been FULL of ups and downs.  Lots of lessons learned and lots of exciting things on the horizon.  Needless to say we are both thrilled Friday has finally arrived!  These smiling faces motivate us to keep going and stay on track!

 

Health care made accessible to families in rural Malawi

Qatar gives $12mm to help rebuild Haiti

Amazing story about how two women from Kentucky are ensuring that more Kenyan girls can attend school

Tackling malaria in Cambodia through the use of cell phones- amazing idea

We all know that in times of economic crisis, non-profits always take a huge hit, but foreign aid is down $167 billion in the last year

xo, Megan and Jess

Honduras Project: First Deliveries

We are so excited to announce that the first two uniform deliveries in El Paraiso, Honduras are complete!  Thanks to our partnership with Pure Water for the World we will be distributing a total of 445 uniforms in a total of 9 schools.  Additionally, each child received a new pair of shoes!    

We can't wait to see how this project turns out, but for now here are a few pictures of the children receiving their uniforms!

Check back for updates on the rest of the uniform distributions!

xo, Megan and Jess

Muchas Gracias

A few Fridays ago we had a wonderful surprise in our mailbox, a stack of thank you notes from our project in El Salvador.  These notes written by students, parents and teachers were not for me and Jess, but for ALL of our donors!  Starting today we will be sharing a note or two each week so that all of you can be properly thanked from these adorable children.

First up, from Lucia Gabriela age 9 (the blonde hair is amazing)

Hope this smiling face brightens everyone's Monday!

xo, Megan and Jess

Week in Review

This has certainly been our motto over the past few weeks, so many great things in the works but lots of work to get them all done!

Uniforms for students in the US are on the rise.  According to this article, 623,000 students in New York City where uniforms between kindergarten and 12th grade 

Operation School Bell to children whose families cannot afford them in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, helping 1,850 children this year

Teachers from British Columbia, Canada volunteer in Kenya and Tanzania

Malawi puts focus on young children by launching a whole week dedicated Early Childhood Education

This week UN officials called on Honduras to make changes in order to protect children from sexual exploitation

xo, Megan and Jess

Week in Review

Students all over the world are now back in school; except for 39 million girls

The teacher strike in Kenya is threatening 2012 exams

Microsoft employees help train teachers in Malawi

A touching account of how education can help Haiti

Hand in Hand soap is one of my FAVORITE gifts and now with the introduction of new scents I can give them over again!  For each bar of soap purchased Hand in Hand will donate a bar of soap, this will prevent the spread of disease and save countless lives.  Healthy children in school = better future for all!  I can not wait to get a bar (or three) of the lavender!

It has been a great week! I am so grateful to have this girl back and by my side every day. We have been getting back into the swing of things, making BIG plans and getting used to the fashion industry all while laughing A LOT. I am so thankful to have such a fabulous business partner and friend!

xo, Megan and Jess

El Salvador Project: Complete

Our project in El Salvador is officially complete!  Last week we received an amazing package; in addition to tons of pictures we also found a stack of thank you notes from the children, parents, teachers and principals.  Over the next few weeks we will be sharing the thank you notes with you, but for now here are a few more pictures of the children in their new uniforms.  Thanks to our donors we were able to provide a total of 794!  That means 794 children will receive an education and have a chance at a brighter future!

xo, Megan and Jess

Happy Labor Day!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, last week was crazy! Between a fabulous photoshoot and soaking up the last few days of summer with lots of dinners al fresco, blogging took a backseat.  We will be back in the swing of things starting tomorrow, and lucky for me Jess will be back at work!  We are practically bursting with excitement about all the amazing things happening at Tailored for Education this fall. 

 

For now we are enojoying last few hours of summer with our families and friends in both of our favorite places! 

 

xo, Megan and Jess