Firstly, we hope you all celebrated International Youth Day this month! On that day, we got thinking that us young people are the future. We have energy, ingenuity, creativity, new ways of thinking and balls of steel. In short, we are a raw force for change. Now is the time to fully participate in Irish life and make the changes we want to make. Let’s get off our bums and do something to make Ireland the nation we know it can be.

Highlights from June and July:

June and July were extraordinary and life changing months for SpunOut.ie and its staff members. What with two staff members travelling to Tanzania as part of the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge fund, a Googleey day in Dublin and not one but two iWitness TV shows, SpunOutters truly spread their wings!

• The lovely RTE's iWitness team came to interview us, creating a 60 second snapshot of what SpunOut.ie is really all about. The crew also filmed our very own Ian Howley who had his own powerful message to spread.

• Two SpunOut.ie staff members travelled to Tanzania as part of the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge fund. Our Digital Unity project was being launched on the 12th of August. This also happened to be International Youth Day. We highlighted our findings including podcasts, short videos, profiles, photographs and opinion pieces. With thanks to Connect-World.

• A huge thanks to Jennifer Murrin who raised money for SpunOut.ie in the Flora Women’s mini marathon. Thank you Jennifer. It means so much to us!

• On June 9th SpunOut.ie and Google Ireland joined forces in a bid to bring SpunOutters a bigger and better SpunOut.ie. The event was part of the Google Serve initiative which sees Google staff giving some love to charities and the community. Thanks guys! We had tons of fun.

• SpunOut.ie burst down the doors on LGBT issues and created a podcast discussion and videos with LGBT young people on issues such as coming out, what it's like to be gay and what pride means to them. Ian Howley also featured in the Irish Daily Mirror.

• Another massive thanks to Conor Slevin from Co.Westmeath who went on the naked bus for charity around Athlone to raise funds for SpunOut.ie. Hope you’ve warmed up again Conor!

• Four SpunOutters participated in NOSP’s nationwide campaign discussions aimed at promoting positive mental health amongst young people in Ireland. SpunOutters dished out their ideas on how to make this upcoming campaign a success.

• SpunOut.ie received an invitation to feature on a mural at East United Football Club in Ballybane, Galway City. Following the recent sad deaths by suicide in the area, the community hopes to raise awareness about the need for the community to support young people going through tough times.

• Remember to check in with us on our social networks Bebo, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Let’s spread the word of SpunOut.ie!

Inspiring SpunOut.ie frontpage campaigns:

All frontpage campaigns are a collective team effort and we strive to make them as strong as can be, inspiring young people to take action and do something positive! Each campaign highlighted an issue of importance to young people. Click on each link to find an article from each campaign. These months featured:

Take a break

Be your true self

Are you responsible?

Holidays on the cheap

"Summertime, and the SpunOut livin is easy... lovin the new homepage and articles."

Discussion forum threads of the month:

8 hour orgasm

Happiness

Articles of the month:

Exams – Nature’s laxatives

Poetry: Why me?

A guide to break up behaviour

Ban fox hunting in Ireland

And finally...

We hope you all are taking good care of yourselves this summer, spending time with family and friends and making the most of the long and bright evenings. It’s a hard time for many of us at the moment but all we can do is keep our heads up and keep the faith that things are changing for the better. We now have more time to stop, breath and just be, as hard as that is sometimes it is a good time to readdress our lives, step off the treadmill and remember what really matters. We hope August shines brighter for you all.

All the best,

The SpunOut.ie crew

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