FOUNDATION 21 X EF ACADEMY NY
From March 2022 onwards, a team of three volunteers (Nameeda Elmi, Vittoria Giachi, and Lucio Andrea Senesi Sonnentag) committed to support the organisation “Foundation 21”. It has been a great experience to contribute to F21’s vision and support their wonderful cause that enabled us to help communities in Bangladesh and create awareness about period poverty at EF Academy New York.
Menstruation, as a whole, needs to be normalised and discussed more thoroughly in schools everywhere, and for this reason, we started from our small community. Thus, through this collaboration, we had the chance to educate over 400 students across the world about periods: health facts, myths, stigmas and periods beyond gender. Through a series of small but significant projects, we have increased awareness, dismantled myths and fundraised almost $700 for “Red Kits” and gynaecologist visits for menstruators in Bangladesh.
We warmly thank “Foundation 21” for the opportunity to be part of the community and contribute to such a great cause. We have loved working with the organisation and hope to continue this relationship into the next year.
Sincerely,
Nameeda, Vittoria and Lucio.
Informational Video and Posters
Our initial objective, as a new Foundation 21 chapter, was to increase awareness about menstruation and period poverty through powerful posters and informative video. Across the campus and in different buildings, informative posters were placed on walls/boards and viewed on TV screens that educated students about period myths and taboos or just normalised different sanitary products like pads and tampons. Simultaneously, an informational video was created to highlight the organisation: vision, objectives and projects. This video was shown, several times, to over 400 students during Advisory periods and in classrooms by teachers to ensure proper retention of content by students. This encouraged them to form more direct connections and understand what the organisation stood for.
Room Cleaning Service Fundraiser
Following the introduction of Foundation 21, our volunteer team organised a fundraiser where a room cleaning service was offered at varying prices ($10, $15 and $20) to EF Academy students. We cleaned over 25 rooms which enabled us to raise about $350 which will be donated to the organisation to assist with their projects. We were content with the results of the fundraiser and hope to organise it again next year but with more volunteers and a better marketing strategy.
Period Positive Session
Our third project was period positive information sessions called “Break the Taboo” held in collaboration with EF nurses and other strong female figures around on campus where we discussed menstruation in detail, tackled some misinformation, and shared our own personal experiences. There was also an anonymous question box set up in different locations which allowed people to put in their own questions or thoughts on period and facilitated more conversations during the sessions which were about 45 minutes.
Smoothie Bowl Sale
The final project, held on April 29th and 30, was a smoothie bowl fundraiser open to all EF students and staff who wanted to support a great cause and get a delicious breakfast. We received almost 50 orders and made a total profit of $275. The bowls were a great hit and people loved them, so we will probably do a similar fundraiser next year but hope to be better organised to meet the high demand.
Meet Our Team!
Nameeda Elmi
Vittoria Caterina Giachi
