News

The Velan Foundation International Service Award given to Wanda Bedard

60 million girls was extremely proud to receive the 2009 Velan Foundation International Service Award given through the Rotary Club of Montreal. This $20,000 award was presented to Wanda Bedard on December 15th for outstanding dedication and leadership as President of the 60 million girls Foundation.

"Her work has been an inspiration to others to serve their community thus exemplifying the ideals and objectives of Rotary throughout the world."

Established in 1981, this award is presented to a Canadian for distinctive and outstanding work done overseas towards improving health and education and alleviating poverty and hunger.

We sincerely thank Rotary Montreal and Mr. A.K. Velan of the Velan Foundation for this most generous support.

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A Wonderful Success!

Thank you to all our guests, donors and supporters for making our fourth annual fundraising conference a marvelous success.

Despite it being mid-November, we enjoyed a relatively mild evening – and no snow!! A full house, wonderful cocktails and of course the last hour to bid on over 50 items from our auction. This year's silent auction beat our previous records by raising over $12,000. Thank you!

Our latest video was presented to start off the evening with a glimpse of our 6 funded projects in 5 different countries. Ariane Émond ensured once again the evening’s success by keeping us all on time and on program!

Christine Gervais, the president of Acceso International gave a heartfelt presentation of the project we are supporting this year in partnership with them in Honduras. From beautiful pictures of the children and their country to stories of how individual girls have been touched and have seen their lives change with education, we know that our funding is a sound investment indeed.

Vida Fereydoonzad took a few minutes to highlight the initiatives of a number of young people around the country to help support 60 million girls and to explain some of 2G2, the youth chapter of our foundation, most recent activities.

And next, our keynote speaker, Ms. Betty Makoni, founder of the Girl Child Network in Zimbabwe. Beginning her presentation 106 years back with stories of her grandmother as well as her mother, Betty detailed the hardships and violence that plagues too many girls and women in her country. Her honesty and courage drove home her message of the vital importance of education for all girls. Education changed her life. Education saves lives.

After the question period, the evening drew to a close with the presentation of cheques in the amount of $90,000 each to both the Stephen Lewis Foundation, our partner for funding to the Girl Child network and Acceso International. We have until December 31st to get that amount up to $100,000 for each of them!!

Of course, without you, none of this is possible. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to attend the conference and hear the remarkable stories of life for girls in Zimbabwe and Honduras. Thank you also to those people who couldn’t attend but made donations instead. Thank you to all those individuals and groups who provided items for the silent auction. Thank you to our wonderful crew of volunteers.

Please accept our deep appreciation for you wonderful support.

Sincerely,

Wanda Bedard
President
60 million girls Foundation

Wanda Bedard awarded the World of Difference Award 2009

Wanda Bedard was recently awarded the World of Difference Award 2009 by the International Alliance for Women. The International Alliance for Women is an international umbrella organization of women’s networks representing more than 50,000 women worldwide whose mission is the economic empowerment of women, whether it is women in microenterprise in the developing world or women seeking board governance roles in the world’s business capitals. Last year, TIAW created a special award, the TIAW World of Difference 100, to honour up to 100 women from around the world who have contributed to the economic empowerment of women in keeping with the TIAW mission.

Nominations were received from six continents and more than 20 countries around the world of women, leaders of their communities, organizations, regions or countries who, often without fanfare, have taken action to support women’s advancement in society and business.

Wanda Bedard named Woman of Influence

Wanda Bedard has been named winner of the Montréal Women of Influence Award presented on October 16th, 2009. The award is given by the Women of Influence luncheon series connecting and developing professional women in Canada. It describes a woman of influence as an authentic leader, an inspiring role model, an extraordinary achiever, a catalyst for change. A Woman of Influence is engaged in life.

60 million girls Foundation wins International category of Share the Love program!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Share the Love contest last April and May and took the time to vote for 60 million girls. As a result of your support 60 million girls received a donation of $2,600 for getting more than 42% of all votes in the category "International charity organization". This will mean more girls being able to go to school, more school supplies for primary school children, and more support and guidance programs for the young girls in this year's Honduras and Zimbabwe projects.

60 million girls chosen as nominee in divine.ca's Share the Love program

60 million girls has been selected as a nominee for Share the Love, a charity support program administered by divine.ca, Canada's Online Women's Magazine.

Through divine.ca's Share the Love program, 60 million girls has received a guaranteed minimum donation of $500, and now has the opportunity to receive an additional portion of their category's $5,000 donation. The specific amount of additional funds to be received will be left up to the Canadian public to decide, who may vote online daily for their favourite local, national and international charities.

The final number of votes cast for divine.ca's 'Share the Love' program will determine the percentage of donation funds each organization receives. This means the number of supporters who visit the 'Share the Love' site will have a direct impact on the donation amount to be awarded to 60 million girls.

Voting for 'Share the Love' takes place between April 6 and May 15. The final results including the donation amount being awarded to each organization will be announced on May 25, 2009. To cast a vote or for more information about 'Share the Love', visit www.divine.ca/sharethelove

A song for 60 million girls

Canadian author, composer and musician Jeanette Arsenault was so touched by the mandate of 60 million girls - to help millions of children across the world achieve their dreams of improving their life through education - that she has dedicated a song to the foundation. The lyrics of her song, entitled Secret Dreams, truly reflect our mission.

We are very grateful to Jeanette for partnering with us and making such a wonderful gesture to support access to education for girls and young women. We thank her from the bottom of our hearts for her immense generosity.

To learn more about this artist and her celebration of women, youth and many other subjects visit her Web site at www.jeanettearsenault.com.

And simply click here to listen to Jeanette Arsenault's song Secret Dreams.

A wonderful success!

Thank you to all our guests, donors and supporters for making our third annual fundraising conference a marvelous success.

Despite a chilly night, our 50 volunteers provided a warm welcome to our guests at École Polytechnique with a bonus spectacular evening view of Montréal from high up on the mountain. Cocktails and then time to bid!! This year's silent auction beat our previous records by raising close to $10,000. Thank you!

Our amazing spokesperson, Ariane Émond, opened the evening showing pictures from our past projects in Burkina Faso, Zambia and Kenya. She then presented the video from WUSC which put us in the context of life in the refugee camp of Dadaab which, along with the refugee camp of Kakuma also in Kenya, will be receiving $100,000 from 60 million girls for remedial classes for 485 girls in primary school along with complete high school scholarships for 5 young women. Our second video was a travelog of the December 2007 visit by UNICEF Canada's Nigel Fisher, president and CEO, to Afghanistan. 60 million girls is supporting a $100,000 project to put in place community based schools in northern Afghanistan to enable 1,300 girls to attend classes as well as provide teacher training to 80 female teachers.