Days for Girls

Almost three years ago I stumbled upon a project called Days for Girls on some website I can't remember. But what I do remember is being moved to my core by the stories I read on the website.

The stories of thousands of young women across the world being denied up to two months of education, of life, a year, simply because they lacked access to lasting feminine hygiene products.

We're talking tampons and maxi pads, people.

GIRLS CANNOT GO TO SCHOOL BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE FEMININE HYGIENE PRODUCTS.

I just can't get over that. I mean, I can't. I haven't been able to in the three years since I first read about this issue. This human issue. This female issue. This us issue.

Me, Angela, Mom & Vickie - Girls helping to create Days for Girls!

I poured over the website and realized this nonprofit organization, Days for Girls, was doing something about this issue. They are calling people from all of the world to come together and create a lasting solution to this issue. There are specific instructions on the site: what materials to buy, how to sew the kits, what to include, and where to send them. It all seemed very cut and dried. These girls need our help. Do X, Y, and Z. Done.

Except...I don't have a Serger sewing machine. And I am not a very confident or talented seamstress. I made a dress back in elementary school. I stitch and I knit but I don't really sew. I want to but...

So I stewed. I clicked on the saved link to read about the project over and over again, wishing I could help. Yes, I could donate money but money isn't what this group is about. This group is about solving this problem. Creating kits to distribute all over the world. I love that. I love the idea of being connected to this process. To these girls.

Because I cannot imagine what my life would look like if I didn't have access to Costco and Target and CVS. I have a stockpile of all types of feminine hygiene products in the closet right now. I always do. I have a stash in my purse, in the glove compartment of my car, at my parents' house, basically everywhere. Because that just goes with the territory of being a woman.

But here are these young girls, who have a hard enough time getting to school as it is, in countries in Africa and Asia and everywhere, and now they have to deal with this? I cried. Literally.

BUT....

Last week I cried again. Because what has been a dream of mine for so long, to help with this amazing cause, materialized!

Last summer, after being sick for so many months, I decided I didn't want to put anything on hold anymore. And so I asked my mom if she would help me make some of these kits. I didn't know how we would do it but we'd figure it out together. She agreed, immediately, in that way moms who are awesome do. There was no hesitation, there was just that instant, okay, let's figure this out. And her first reaction was to ask our amazing friend Vickie to help out. Vickie is a beautiful and talented woman and seamstress. She makes wedding gowns and hems pants and everything in between. And she has a Serger. And so we asked.

And because Vickie is one of those amazing moms too, she was like yes, let's figure this out.

So off Angela and I went with Vickie, to Joann's, and we bought supplies. We used coupons and we bought too much of this and not enough of that and then we met Mom at Vickie's house and we got to working. Vickie had spent time studying the (relatively complex but it's important for the integrity of the kits) patterns and instructions and that helped. We all took turns sewing and piecing together and by the end of our day together we had a partial kit. It was a start.

Angela and I headed back to California and left our project with the Moms. And they did what Moms do best, they got it done. I aided when I could, ordering labels from the organization, making a fundraising video that could be shown to groups at the church to raise money for supplies and shipping (shout out to both Faith Circle and the Men's Group at Howell UMC! They gave us incredible donations without a second thought!). But it was these women, Chris and Vickie, who made this project a reality.

And so the tears came just last week when I got some pictures on a Monday night from my mom. Faith Circle had spent their evening meeting assembling the bags, preparing them for distribution. I was shocked that the project had come together, and overjoyed that something I have felt so strongly about, so deeply about, happened. I know I wasn't a big part of it, and I don't need to be. But I feel such pride in what our community has done, what we have done for these girls.

Think of a girl you know. Twelve, thirteen, fourteen years old. Imagine her sitting home for seven days every month. No school. No socialization. I can't fathom that. And now a few girls won't have to. They have the products they need to be go out into the world and experience it. To go to school. How awesome is that?








UPDATE (4/21/16) -- The kits were delivered to a church group near Detroit who acts as a distributor of the kits and this is a response we received from one of the women in the group:

...They were elated with the donation from your church.  Apparently, there is a group that requires 125 finished kits from them by the end of the week and they only had 100.  So it was such perfect timing and they were feeling so blessed.  

In the words of my mom, "god loves us and blesses us everyday."