Tsawwassen's Paula Gallagher is the founder and director of the B.C. chapter of a foundation that works to empower girls and women through education.
60 million girls raises money for projects overseas, she said, adding that Canadian registered charities bring projects to the foundation.
"We select the best of the best," she said. The foundation's 2014 major projects include working with Free the Children on a girls' high school in the Maasai Mara area of Kenya and training teachers and building a school in the Khost province of Afghanistan. There's also a research project in Sierra Leone.
Everyone in the foundation is a volunteer, she said. Gallagher, who spent a few years as the volunteer chair for UNICEF in B.C., said education is the biggest stepping stone there is for girls.
"I think it's important not only to me but everyone. It's been shown by research from the World Bank and UNICEF as probably the most effective way of increasing a country's economy," she said. "It's also so important to empower women and girls and education is the best way of doing that."
The 60 million girls B.C. chapter, founded in 2010, has been growing steadily, she said. It held an event last month with journalist Stephanie Nolen, the Latin America bureau chief with the Globe and Mail.
"We are looking to have more members. The more members, the more creativity you've got and the larger networking opportunities you have, too," said Gallagher, who also volunteers with the ONE TO ONE children's literacy program in Vancouver and the Hospice Cottage Charity Shoppe in Tsawwassen. For more on the foundation, visit www.60milliongirls.org.
