There is nothing quite so thrilling as having multiple projects running at once. We have completed 2,400 kits (two pallets) for the Chad Humanitarian Response Project! These kits will be picked up from us in June and start their journey to the girls who need them. Our work for Nicaragua with Global Links last year has had a positive response too. We are thrilled that the Pittsburgh Chapter was able to connect the larger Days for Girls community with Global Links. So, as we worked on the kits needed for Chad, we are also preparing 3,000 kits for Nicaragua. We are a little more than halfway towards that goal. We are still in need of women’s underwear (small and medium sizes).
We can safely have 7 people in the DFG room at church so our leadership and volunteers from other local DFG teams have been working in shifts to pack up the kits. We fostered these relationships over zoom meetings over the last year. It is wonderful to see our friends in person over the last month (Pittsburgh North, Oakdale, Valencia, Murrysville, and Grove City).
But these wonderful women have done so much more than help us pack up. And we are so grateful for their efforts. Our friends from Pittsburgh North can safely meet in their church so they have repaired drawstring bags and transport bags, dyed, and rolled underwear, and made new items for us that Constance shuttles back and forth between the two meeting places. Their team leader, Lisa regularly texts updates to Karie so she can enter them into the DFG project spreadsheet. This is an effort to keep track of items and will later be used to provide feedback to DFG teams and chapters about their components. Our friends from Oakdale PA coordinate with volunteers to pick up and drop off shields, check and repair shields, and add snaps to the finished shields. They’re team leader Liz drives to Third weekly to help coordinate these efforts. The fully vaccinated Grove City team drove in more underwear (which they rolled in the car on the way) and transport bags. Laurie from the Murrysville team is pitching press releases about the project. Kym Gable sent a camera operator to Third one afternoon and we hope to see that footage on her ‘On A Positive Note’ segment soon. Kym is the director of ‘Inspired Women Paying It Forward’ in the South Hills. (Karie spoke about DFG to the South Hills group via zoom in 2020.) We hope that this local publicity draw attention to women’s issues, especially period poverty. Every menstruator should have what she needs to manage her period and live a full life. Every girl. Everywhere. Period.
If you missed previous articles these are links for the Early posts about Chad and Nicaragua and the previous Chad and Nicaragua Up-date.
Here are ways anyone can help us:
Make a monetary donation to The Pittsburgh Chapter or to Days for Girls International or purchase needed materials from amazon wish list or a JoAnn Fabric Gift Card, and arrange for a safe drop off. Wish list items can be shipped directly to Third Church. You can contact the Pittsburgh Chapter by emailing pittsburgh@daysforgirls.org too.
Like the Pittsburgh Chapter Facebook page to see updates on the projects.
Here are ways you can help if you are able to pick (and drop off) items up at Third Church:
Measure underwear (to help standardize the sizing in multiple brands) and roll it so that it can ship compactly in the kits. Underwear is ready for pick up at the church. Please take only what you think you can manage to finish and drop back off within a week.
Wash flannel with the fragrance-free dye-free detergent provided in each bag. This is an on-going part of the process so it’s ok if it takes a little longer to accomplish this task.
Here is a little shop talk for Days for Girls Teams and Chapters:
Daisies, you have been so generous! Thank you!!! We have received so many sewn components already. The Pittsburgh Chapter will take late donations and whatever is not used for Chad or Nicaragua will be stored to use for the next group project.
Our most needed sewn component is the transport bag. We know that it is new for some teams and chapters but don’t forget to go to the leadership room and carefully read the sewing instructions as well as the heat-sealing instructions. Remember to test a sample of the transport bags you make to be sure they hold water (that is how we know that they are sealed properly).
You are welcome to ship underwear to us by using our amazon wish list. When you send it “as a gift” amazon lets you write a note. Please include your team or chapter name and email so that we can credit you for that donation. If you are sending us underwear you already have on hand, please use the Days for Girls panty sizing guide (found in the leadership room or in the Chapter Chat Facebook group). This guide helps us to have consistent sizing no matter which brand of underwear. This is incredibly helpful for our friends who will be distributing the kits and of course for the menstruators receiving them. Using this guide is a way you can help us that the general public can not. We appreciate your efforts.
THANK YOU!!!
Period Pastor Pad 