DAYS FOR GIRLS

Days for Girls was founded by Celeste Mergens after a trip to Kenya in 2008. The girls in the orphanage faced huge challenges because they did not have sanitary napkins to use during their period. This is a problem for many girls in countries around the world. When they have their period they can not go to school. Often it is at school where they receive food for the day and if they attend class every day they get to bring food home for the weekend. So beside missing out on education they are lacking nourishment. The girls live in area that have no stores where menstrual products are available to purchase, and  disposable sanitary napkins are banned in many of the countries because  their is no garbage disposal. Celeste designed a sustainable solution, the Day For Girls Kit. Under her leadership it has developed a global network of more than 1,000 volunteer Chapters and Teams. It empowers girls in over 127 countries on six continents.

Pam Anders is the Social Action coordinator for the East Central District and truly has a heart for stopping injustice.  When she and three other United Methodist women from Clermont  were on the mission trip to UMCOR Sager-Brown last fall they met Sara Perkins. She lives in Tennessee and along with 30 women makes Days for Girls kits. Pam asked her when she was visiting in Florida if she would talk to our church.

Debbie Smith is our unit's Social Action coordinator and welcomed everyone to the program on Monday morning, February 25th.

Celeste Hicks, United Methodist Women, Clermont President opened the program with a prayer.

There were over 30 women present.  Some of the women did not belong to any of the circles but had come because they had seen it in the church bulletin. This was a good way to show women in our church how active United Methodist Women are in mission. This program also helped us realize how fortunate we are to live in  America and how much we often take for granted what we have available.

Unfortunately Sara's computer did not want to work with the projector system to let her show us some slides of women who have received the Days for Girls Kits.

She did an excellent presentation holding every one's attention even without the slides.

Sara showed us what items went into a Days for Girls Kit.
Here is a use for those small hotel-size bars of soap you may have picked up when traveling.

Each part of the kit has an exact pattern that must be followed.  Material should be dark colors with patterns that help hide stains and pre-washed. No yellow, no prints with a face or eyes, no camouflage, no cartoons or flags on the material. The material must be 100% cotton for shields and pockets and 100% cotton flannel for liners. One of the layers is made from PUL (Polyurethane Laminate), which is water proof and used for the outside of diapers and diaper covers. The PUL and the underpants can be purchased cheaply through Days for Girls.

Sara demonstrated how each part was cut, sown and put together. She was visiting her sister in Florida, so she had her be her assistant.

To make a kit takes a lot of work and many hands. There are jobs that anyone can do even if you do not sew. You can cut, iron, design, sew, attach snaps, thread ribbon, inspect each piece or help pack them.

All the final pieces are shipped in one of the Ziploc bags. There are several chapters here in Florida to partner with or we could form our own chapter. At the end of the program 20 women showed an interest in making Days for Girls Kits.