Ever so close

Our Eugene/Springfield Days for Girls team met last weekend, with new and returning volunteers.  We are getting ever so close to having sewn enough items to fill the request for more kits to go to Kenya in January.  

Some of the volunteers ventured into sewing different items, so we had a variety of things going on.

As far as purchased items go, what we need most now is girls' cotton or cotton blend underpants, sizes 10-14.  They should be as colorful as you can find, in brief or hipster styles (no bikini, thong or boy shorts styles).  Walmart currently has 12-packs for $5.96, which works out to 50 cents a pair.  Target has 12-packs for $5.99, with free (holiday) shipping if you order online.

Donna, an Arizona friend who spent the summer in Eugene, and was a dedicated Days for Girls volunteer, continues to sew back at home.  

Donna and her friend Maxine have completed 269 flannel liners, just in October and November.  Awesome!  

Please join us at our future workdays.  We meet at Our Sewing Room at 5th and Main in Springfield.  Come for the whole day, come for a portion.  Our next few gatherings are:

December 15, 10:00-4:00

January 18, 10:00-5:00

February 15,  10:00-5:00

March 15, 10:00-5:00

Mark your calendars!

Heather, a health teacher at Sisters High School, is taking 18 students and adults to Uganda in the spring.  The local community has requested 500-700 feminine hygiene kits!  I've been working with her aunt, Ellen, to help them set up a Central Oregon team.  They had their first workday Thursday at Quiltworks in Bend, and had 19 enthusiastic volunteers from Sisters, Bend and LaPine show up.  Fantastic!  I suspect we'll be making some kits for Uganda soon.

Days for Girls International is featured as one of 50 global heroes in Safe Magazine!  We are on page 84. This is their second issue of the magazine which highlights and celebrates leaders and organizations leading the way in the fight to end violence against boys and girls around the world, as well as those working tirelessly at the intersection of health and violence. 

Days for Girls will be part of their Twitter chat on Tuesday, November 25 from 10-11a.m. EST, which is the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. Co-hosted with Safe cover hero Alaa Murabit of the Voice of Libyan Women, the discussion will address ways each of us can get involved in ending violence in our own communities. You can join them by using the hashtag #HeroUp. http://bit.ly/1qeCe3G

See you next month!

November work day

Wow!  It's that time of the month again (pun intended).  Our monthly Days for Girls workday at Our Sewing Room (5th & Main in Springfield) is this Sunday, 10:00--4:00--come for as much time as you have available.

Bring your scissors and pins, use one of OSR's sewing machines or bring your own if you're more comfortable with the familiarity of yours.

One of the things the headquarters folks repeatedly stress is that quality is so much more important than speed.  So come prepared to do your best work, no matter how long that takes.  Each girl only gets one kit, and we want that kit to be perfect!

We'll have sewing, pressing, and cutting jobs.  Have you learned how to make all the parts of a kit (shield, 2 styles of liner, bags)?  
Maybe Sunday you'd be interested in learning something new.  Just ask!  Once you've got it down pat (quality checked, of course!), please feel free to sew at home too!  

T&T (Turn & Topstitch)Liner

Shield

Drawstring bag

Serged liner, squared corners

Serged liner, rounded corners

Moda Fabric blog about Days for Girls!

This is a nice blog piece about Days for Girls, from Moda, a company whose fabrics I love!

Help Wanted!

DAYS FOR GIRLS INTERNATIONAL

Want to help our Eugene/Springfield team?  

ANYTHING you do brings us closer to 

Every Girl.  Everywhere.  Period.

WORK:

Come to one or more of our workdays at Our Sewing Room and learn all the different sewing and non-sewing tasks that go into making a complete kit.
Then continue to work with us each month, and/or pick your favorite task and work on that at home.

PURCHASE:

Would you like to contribute some of the items we need for our kits?  Here's a list of what purchased items we need, in order of current need:

• Top-quality flannel fabric, in darker, busy stain-hiding prints [Botanicals and geometrics are best.  Because of cultural considerations, please avoid prints with animals (including insects and reptiles), people, camouflage, weapons, religious symbols, and anything culturally specific].
• Cotton or cotton-blend underpants, girls' sizes 10-16 (briefs or hipsters, no "boy shorts" or bikini)
• Washcloths, in colors (no white)
• Twill tape, 1/2" --5/8" is best. If you can find colors, that's wonderful, but not essential.  We use 2 yards per bag.  White shows soil, so darker is better.
• New spools of polyester thread, for regular sewing machines and sergers, any medium to dark color
• Ziploc brand gallon-size freezer bags (not the slider style)
• Hotel travel-size soap, environmentally friendly, if possible.
• Good quality quilting-weight cotton fabric, in medium to dark stain-hiding prints [Botanicals and geometrics are best.  Because of cultural considerations, please avoid prints with animals (including insects and reptiles), people, camouflage, weapons, religious symbols, and anything culturally specific]

DONATE FUNDS:   All donations are 100% tax deductible and help empower girls, women and communities around the world.  You will receive a receipt.

• Online through the Global Sew-a-thon fundraiser.  You'll get a receipt immediately.   This fundraiser runs through November 11, 2014 and fund automatically go to our team.
• Online through Paypal (click on that red "Donate" circle). Indicate that the funds are for the Eugene, Oregon team.  
• By check made out to Days for Girls International (give to us or mail to headquarters: Days for Girls, 1610 Grover Street, Suite B22, Lynden, WA 98264)   Indicate that the funds are for the Eugene, Oregon team.  

STAY INFORMED:

            Read the blog for our local team:  dfgeugene.blogspot.com

            Check out the DFGI website:  daysforgirls.org

            Email: eugeneor@daysforgirls.org

            Get on our email mailing list (send us an email)