You can watch the service on the Youtube page for First Untied Methodist Church of Pittsburgh
The Days for Girls Mission is simple: creating a more dignified, free and educated world through access to lasting menstrual health. Our tagline is: Every Girl. Everywhere. Period.
Each standard Days for Girls washable kit includes: 2 waterproof shields, 8 liners, 2 panties, 1 carry pouch, a 100% cotton wash cloth, a small bar of soap, and an ovulation chart and directions, all packaged in a drawstring bag. Those are the things you can see. What you might not notice immediately is that those kits also contain: dignity, education, and independence.
Women and girls around the world are vulnerable, especially when they are menstruating and don’t have a way to manage the flow. Periods are a social taboo in many parts of the world and each place has its unique social customs to navigate. In some places in our world, menstruating girls and women are separated from their families, their communities, and the safety those groups provide.
But there is hope. When girls have access to menstrual products, they stay in school longer. When girls finish school, they are less likely to marry at a young (childhood) age, they are more likely to delay having children until their bodies are fully developed, and they have healthier, happier children. Having access to these washable pads frees people from systemic poverty by giving girls more days in school and women more days at work. When women are educated, they improve the lives of their families and communities in all areas of health, wellness, and prosperity. This is social justice work.
Periods aren’t often talked about in public spaces so period poverty is an invisible problem. Every person I know who has had menstrual cycles has had at least one experience of not being able to afford what they needed or of not having access to products when they needed them. People with periods miss school or work when they don’t have access to products to help them manage their bleeding. Even people who can afford products sometimes have to leave school or work to purchase them. It’s important to advocate for period products to be free in easily accessible in schools, prisons, and public restrooms. Businesses can also become period positive workplaces by stocking bathrooms with period products, meeting WHO’s Global Water, Sanitation & Hygiene standards and recording in an employee handbook, benefits plan, or company policy that products will be made available to employees. Companies who have put this into practice have noticed higher productivity and less absenteeism.
Most places in the US that provide menstrual products typically provide disposables, but I think more of us should advocate for washable options to be available. Washable menstrual products are better for the environment, bodies, and in the long run save money.
When I’ve used washable pads, I’ve also noticed they don’t smell as bad a disposable. I like using a menstrual cup and being connected to my menstruation because I’m learning more about my body. And the more I share my experience with using a cup, or period underwear, or washable pads, I am destigmatizing menstruating bodies. I’ve noticed that by being open and honest about my own experiences, other people begin to share their experiences. And talking about periods becomes a pathway to talking about other sensitive issues. Talking about periods creates safe spaces.
There is a room (in your church, called the Wesley Quad) where anyone can come and feel safe and loved no matter what it is they need to talk about. In many ways it’s a sanctuary, a safe place, a place full of love and support, and a place where sorrow and gratitude are held by the gathered community.
It took me a long time to realize our Days for Girls team was creating a safe space for people who needed because I was focused on inviting people in with the purpose of making kits and sending them to the people we were trying to help. Maybe I was too focused on helping other people to see what was happening with the people around me.
When I started this Days for Girls journey, I Imagined, me and Jesus, and the volunteers making kits to send to 12-year-old girls who would need these to improve the trajectory of their lives. It was a clear path. We make the kits, they go to girls about to get their first period, and then those girls don’t have to miss school because of their period. They can continue their education, delay marriage and the start of their family until after they have completed school. When girls are educated, their communities are lifted out of poverty.
We had great success in our first sewing day, but also a lot of half-finished kits, so we needed to do another sewing event, and then another. Eventually, we registered with DFG as the Pittsburgh Chapter and other people found us. Students who needed service hours, women from the community correction center and rehab centers, people with special needs, and others who needed service hours or just wanted to do good in the world. The sewing room was getting crowded.
The Days for Girls project became so much more than I imagined. I thought that the path was clear. It would be me, and Jesus, and the volunteers working on kits, raising money to go on a trip so I could place those kits into the hands of 12-year-old girls, changing their lives forever. But now, there is a crowd of people pressing on us from all sides and Jesus suddenly stops and says who touched me. What do you mean Jesus? With all of these other people in the sewing room making kits, of course someone touched you, we’re busy here. Keep sewing, keep ironing, keep packing, we have to get to that little girl. Remember Jesus? The plan is, make the kits, fundraise, get on a plane, put the kit in the hand of a 12-year-old girl, we don’t have time to stop. We have to help vulnerable women. We have to empower little girls. We have to enable them to break the system that holds them back. But Jesus stops. He looks around. Who touched me? What do you mean Jesus? Jesus says, someone touched me, I felt healing happen. No Jesus, you didn’t, we are on the way to healing the world. Remember the little girl. Jesus stops. No, someone was healed just now. Who touched me?
Who touched me? And for a moment I can see the room through Jesus’ eyes. The project that I thought was leading us to help a 12-year-old girl, is really two missions that connect. The mission is about the 12-year-old girl, but the mission is also about how we get to her and who is with us along the way. Centering women, healing, restoring community is the goal and it is the way to the goal.
Jesus asks who touched me to make us look around. He takes a moment to center the marginalized woman. He healed her physically, he listened to her and centered her for a moment in the social group, he praised her faith, he called her beloved daughter. Jesus is a wholistic healer. He models for us centering the marginalized, listening to the voice of the oppressed, honoring all persons as beloved members of our family. So, our Days for Girls mission hasn’t changed, but we have paused and looked around, realizing that those who are among us as partners in service need healing too.
In Mark we are presented with two beautiful stories about women who had managed to find healing through Jesus. One about a little girl who is sick and eventually dies while waiting for her loved ones to bring Jesus to her. She is healed (and brought back to life) despite the laughter and scorn that greets Jesus when he finally arrives. The other is about a woman who through sheer will, and persistence, reached out for something bigger than herself when all else seemed lost. She is healed on the way. Jesus’ ministry of healing and reconciliation is for all along the way and not just for some at the end of the journey. And healing, faith, and reconciliation are all things that look different for everyone. The community that is looking for healing is finding it in those who are seeking healing too. When Jesus asks who touched me, we might ask who else has realized she needs help? Who else knows she can’t do this life on her own? Who else needs a community and a higher power?
Ministry isn’t always what I think it is going to be. Sometimes ministry happens when ministry is interrupted. What we thought was going to be a mission project to empower women, became a mission project that empowers women who work to empower women. What we thought was a service project to help girls and women “out there” became a community of women working for healing, purpose, and love here (literally here in the Wesley Quad). It is a group with the goal to help the 12-year-old girl at the receiving end of the kit, and it is a group with a goal to journey together to make the kit.
And together we have created a unique community where everyone is valued, encouraged, empowered, and most importantly, loved. It’s a community that no matter how you arrived, you leave different, maybe even healed.
My hope and prayer for you, is that you might see the multiple layers of ministry as they emerge. When you volunteer with Days for Girls or with First Friends or somewhere else, I hope you connect with each other, share stories, open your hearts, invite your neighbors, and mostly importantly remember that mission is also about those who travel the way with us.
You can watch the service on the Youtube page for First Untied Methodist Church of Pittsburgh
Text options: Matthew 9:18-26, Mark 5:21-43, and Luke 8:40-56
Hymns: Sacred Body #2228, She Comes Sailing on the Wind # 2122 (Both are found in The Faith We Sing)
L: Let us pray for Days for Girls International, the work they are doing in our world, and in our community. When I say, Lord, in your mercy, please respond with, hear our prayers.
L: Creator God, we pray for all of the world, that creation can be restored to health and wellness. We pray that the use of products that add pollution to the planet will cease and that more people will be inspired to use sustainable, renewable, and reusable products. Lord, give us the courage to talk to others about washable menstrual products as a solution that is kind to our world and to our bodies. Lord in your mercy…P: Hear our prayer.
L: God of Peace, we pray for especially those who find themselves in vulnerable positions and excluded from their community. We pray for the people who live in places where they are separated from their community while they are menstruating. We pray for their safety and we pray that hearts and minds are changed so that these harmful practices stop. We pray for the restoration of community for all people. Lord, in your mercy…P: Hear our prayer
L: God of Justice, we pray that those in power would understand the need for sustainable access to menstrual health products. We pray that those making laws and policy would respond to the need to have free products in public restrooms, prisons, and schools. We pray for those who are held back from full participation in life because of lack of access. We pray for those who are embarrassed when their flow is visible on their clothing. We pray for those who are using items that cause harm because they do not have access to safe and clean supplies. Lord, in your mercy…P: Hear our prayer
L: Loving God, we pray for the Pittsburgh Chapter of Days for Girls, for those that gather together to help each other and build a better community. We pray that gathering to make kits creates a loving and supportive community for women and men in the Pittsburgh area. We pray that they continue to inspire and to be inspired. We ask that you continue to bless this project. Lord, in your mercy… P: Hear our prayer
Check out our Facebook and Instagram @pgh_dfgchapter
Karie Charlton is our chapter leader. You can check out her blog, Period Pastor or follow her on Facebook or Instagram @periodpastor. Karie is ordained in the PCUSA but currently isn’t serving a church.
DfG Pittsburgh Wish List
- 500 Boxes from Uline 15x13x12
- Packing tape
- Sharpie Markers
- Women’s small and medium underwear (we need 20,000)
- Order through DfG please email resources@daysforgirls.org to coordinate orders.
- Order through fruit of a loom women’s sizes 5 and 6
- Please double check the underwear are at least 50% cotton.Bikinis, briefs, hi cuts, and hipsters are all fineNo boy shorts or thongs (our pads snap around the crotch and these styles do not work to hold our pads in place)
- Use code: FRUIT20 to get 20% off
- Amazon wish list or donate through DfG website
- Gift cards for JoAnn Fabrics are always appreciated.
Period Pastor Pad 