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NaNo + Every Mother Counts = MP2020

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About Every Mother Counts serving 963,000 mothers, children, healthcare workers... and counting.

Every Mother Counts was founded in 2010. As they celebrate their 10th anniversary, they also celebrate uplifting almost a million lives around the world through more focused, caring, deliberate, and available health care for mothers across the spectrum of pregnancy and childbirth. 

Their work is multifaceted; one part awareness, several parts advocacy, even more parts just plain resources for areas in the world where good health care is dependent on the availability of doctors and materiel. Even though a mother dies every two minutes, more than 95 percent of those deaths are preventable with our current knowledge and technology. In the U.S. alone, over half of maternal deaths should be preventable–but our mortality rate continues to rise largely due to race and gender inequities as well as poverty (and the structure of the US healthcare system).

Most importantly, the work of Every Mother Counts holds a special place in the hearts of nearly all the Mighty Pens participants this year. Sooz only survived massive blood loss during the birth of her child because of luck. My sister might have died several weeks after a botched c-section if she didn’t have the resources or knowledge to advocate and demand treatment with her doctors. Many of our amazing volunteer teams are mothers themselves. Several of our prize donors have their own stories–or their mothers’ stories–of barely surviving childbirth.

This is not okay but more importantly, with the Mighty Pens, we have the means and the motivation to help Every Mother Counts change the status quo.

  • In Bangladesh they support midwifery training, access to maternity care for Rohingya refugees, and healthcare outreach and education.
  • In Tanzania they support training health care workers, provide lifesaving resources, healthcare outreach, and education.
  • In the United States they advocate for midwifes and doulas, advance legislation requiring parity in health care, and provide awareness through storytelling like the video to the left.

And that’s just some examples of the amazing work Every Mother Counts does daily. 

We hope you’ll be part of the team this year! Whether that’s fundraising with us, donating fundraising prizes to motivate our participants, or sponsoring a participant when the campaign opens in November.

Thank you for being part of this adventure. 

Never give up. Never Surrender.

<3 Kat

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Join The Mighty Pens 2020

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Goal: $10,000 

For: Every Mother Counts

By: Authors Ready to Prove 2020 Wrong

Join Now.

The Mighty Pens: Creating Better

In 2017, I was reeling from personal crisis and searching for renewed purpose and meaning. I came up with the nugget for the Mighty Pens–a charity drive combining the positive peer pressure of NaNoWriMo with fundraising–and reached out to Sooz to see if she’d be interested in starting it with me. By December 1, we had raised over $15,000 for the Malala Fund.

For most of us, 2020 has been a doozy of a year–but let’s be honest, the mildly apocalyptic nature of our times won’t respect quaint human boundaries like December 31 and January 1. If we want to believe in better, we must take whatever small (or large) steps possible to show that even in the darkest of moments, we choose what to do with our time.

The Mighty Pens is about raising money for worthy causes, of course, but it’s also about creativity, hope, and community. We succeed because we create art that can change both fantasy worlds and the real one. We build a family of authors dedicated to each other as well as their writing and the cause. 

Join the Mighty Pens

  1. Fill out the form on this page.
  2. Join our discord server after you get your welcome email and start to get involved.
  3. Follow the instructions in your welcome email to become eligible for Writing and Fundraising prizes. (More information coming soon!)

Every Mother Counts: Centering Mothers

Every Mother Counts was founded in 2010 to create a world where “every mother not only survives, but thrives.” Across the world mother dies every two minutes, creating ripple effects not only for that family, but their community, local economies, the stability of their local societies, the list goes on. Ninety-nine percent of maternal deaths occur in developing countries, but the United States is actually ranked 55 on worldwide maternal health, and it is the only developed nation where the maternal mortality rate is increasing. Every Mother Counts works on awareness, advocacy, and physical programs worldwide to protect mothers’ health.

It’s not discussed often, but everyone knows at least one mother with a terrifying birth story. Sooz’ own experience is what urged us to run the Mighty Pens this year and to make it better and more inclusive than ever. The most frustrating part of the maternal health crisis is that “almost all global maternal deaths can be prevented” through a combination of awareness, availability of resources and care, and removing and training out disrespectful practices and discrimination in health care, like what my sister faced when she had complications following her c-section.

In just New York City, “on average, Black women are 12x more likely to die from pregnancy related complications than white women.” To address such disparities across the United States, along with a lack of insurance and available facilities, several pieces of legislation have been introduced in the US House and Senate, like the “Mommies” act and the “Maternal Care” act. Whether or not you participate in the Mighty Pens this year, consider contacting your Representative and Senators to urge them to pass this no-brainer legislation.

This year, join the Mighty Pens. Write your heart out through November, and then share that passion to help mothers, and therefore families and societies, thrive.

<3 Kat