Several weeks ago, we got a happy surprise in our inbox. We were contacted by a student leader from the African Society of Georgetown. They were looking for a charity to name as the beneficiary of their annual Fall Harvest Dinner.

We host an annual Fall Harvest Charity Dinner sometime in early November, this year we are looking to dedicate the event to an organization working on the mission of female empowerment within the continent. We really like the mission of the Over the Moon Project and would love to donate any proceeds raised from the event to your organization.

The event is coming up this week and we just wanted to say a big thank you to the leaders and members of the African Society of Georgetown for supporting our work! We won’t be able to attend in person, but we sent a video message to tell you how grateful we are and share more about our work.

It’s been an unusually busy summer for our all-volunteer staff, but we are excited that plans are underway for our next delivery. Stay tuned for more details!

We are thrilled to announce that we successfully completed our first pad delivery and workshop at the end of the summer! Our very own Juliet was able to attend and participate in this incredible event.

Take a look at the photo gallery to see all the highlights from the day! (Click on any photo for a gallery view.)

We could not be happier with how the first delivery went! The participation from community members, teachers, parents, and students was overwhelming. We are so grateful to each and every person who contributed to the campaign to make this project a success.

We are excited to announce that preparations are underway for our first set of workshops and pad delivery later this month! Juliet has been back in Uganda working hard to arrange logistics for the project. For the past few days, she’s been in Lira conducting meetings with students, school leaders, parents, community members, and government officials in preparation for the big day.

Juliet found the girls studying hard! But it seems a few may be missing… we are trying to keep the girls in school and you can help.

The girls are very much looking forward to receiving their pads. Through our community meetings, we have also determined that there is a need for extra uniforms to store at school in case any of the girls’ uniforms get stained during the school day; and we plan to provide those as well. We are also beginning to explore the possibility of building a changing and wash facility at the school.

If you want to help ensure us continue to fight menstrual absenteeism in Lira, please add your support today!

Is it us, or is menstrual hygiene having a media moment? Check out today’s story about on NPR’s All Things Considered. We love this quote from Diana Sierra, co-founder of BeGirl:

“We’re not talking about rocket ships, we’re talking about sanitary pads,” she says. “Yet they both have the same effect. They take you places.”

We couldn’t agree more.

After much paperwork, we are excited to announce that Over the Moon Project is now an officially recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization! You can now make tax-deductible donations directly to the organization using our updated CrowdRise page. Thanks to our friends at CrowdRise for getting us all set up!

Of course, all online donations made to the “direct to organizer” birthday/launch campaign site will be transferred over the the non-profit (minus CrowdRise’s minimal personal fundraiser fees). All previous offline donations went right into Over the Moon’s account (no fees, woohoo!). Check with your tax pros about what all this means for you.

Thanks so much for your support!

The internet is abuzz with news of a new American company called THINX. Apparently they are making “period-proof underwear that protects you from leaks and keeps you feeling dry.” We haven’t seen the product, but it sound pretty cool! We are all for anything that keeps us talking about menstrual hygiene and striving for better solutions for women around the world.

Plus, it seems THINX is partnering with our friends at AFRIpads by donating a portion of their profits to help girls in Uganda have access to menstrual hygiene supplies. Brava to that!

Drawings courtesy of shethinx.com

We are celebrating Menstrual Hygiene Day because #menstruationmatters! Learn more about how menstrual hygiene affects education for girls around the world.

Learn more about the issues surrounding menstrual hygiene and join the social media campaign today!

We are very excited to announce that as of today we have raised enough to fund the first delivery of pads to the girls! Thank you so much to all our donors, particularly those who came through to close the gap and allow us to meet this important fundraising benchmark. This officially makes our birthday fundraising launch campaign a success!

This is how we feel about raising the funds to cover our first delivery of supplies to the girls! (PC: Catie Corbin)

In the meantime, the fundraising campaign will continue towards our greater goal of raising enough to cover another delivery of pads, so please support the project by making a contribution.

The Over the Moon team will be shifting into logistics mode, so the blog may be quiet for a bit; but we hope to have news from the front lines of the first delivery before too long. Stay tuned!