Dear Reader,
This winter, I am grateful for you: our number one fan. It has been an incredible year for Reinvented, thanks to your generosity. We wanted to show you the impact your support has made, not just for Reinvented but across the globe. So let's take a look at our 2020 year in review.
Reinvented Magazine celebrated our first birthday on May 20th, 2020. Since then, we've published our fourth, fifth, and sixth issues featuring women like Alyssa Carson: Martian in Training, Svetlana Quindt from Kamui Cosplay, and Dr. Carlotta Berry from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and highlighted real-world topics like bioengineering, wearable technology, and STEM inclusion. We conducted our first series of Reinvented events, putting together 5,000 LEGO® minifigures with the help of 300 volunteers from across Central Florida sending 1,000 girls home with a digital copy of our magazine on Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, and hosting 150 participants nationwide for our Who Runs the World? Girls! Virtual 5K. Most recently, we held our first annual Recognizing Reinventors Awards Ceremony, where we celebrated your favorite Reinvented articles and the revolutionary feats of women in STEM!
When COVID-19 hit the United States in March, we took it in stride, releasing our first and second issues as free digital copies to educators, parents, students, and community leaders looking for inspirational, educational resources. We found ways to reach our readers stuck at home through our new virtual content, including STEAM Dreamers panels, the Invent With Reinvented workshop series, and Byte Sized STEM Career Development videos.
Reinvented Magazine started as a simple thought and has since blossomed into something truly incredible. One of my favorite stories we've received is about an eight-year-old girl who, even though her parents told her it was lights out at bedtime, ended up reading our magazine under the covers with a flashlight. Her story has stuck with me because I used to be that girl, hungry to read page after page of the story, and now I can help provide stories to girls like me--girls who are trying to figure out who they want to be when they grow up.
We now have over 100 volunteers working hard every day to find new, fun ways to inspire our young readers. We are reaching all 50 states (our final state was Wyoming!) and over 25 countries with our content. We are fulfilling our goal to be accessible to every reader, everywhere. Our One-for-One Program has continued to thrive. This year, over 1,500 magazines went to girls in low income and underserved areas, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Just to name a few, one set of donated magazines went home in summer reading bags in Minnesota, some went to students in Alaska, and even more, went to girls who weren't able to participate in in-person summer camps in California.
We want to make sure that every girl has the opportunity to be introduced to STEM, so we are calling on you to help us achieve that. There are many ways to give back, and we hope that you'll consider donating to Reinvented Magazine this holiday season to help us extend our reach. No donation is too small, and every penny goes right back into helping empower the next generation of female scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians.
Consider making a meaningful gift to help us reinvent the face of STEM. You can make your gift through snail mail or online via our website. And don't forget that as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, we are eligible for most company donation-matching programs! Thank you for your generosity, and I wish you all the best this holiday season.
To Infinity & Beyond,
Erin Mitchell, Chief Financial Officer
