APRIL 7
That's our next workday, the first Saturday in April. I really appreciate when you send me an email when you know if you're going to make it. (I don't need to hear from you if you're not coming.) If you're on our mailing list, just respond to the reminder email I send out a few days before the workday. (If you're not on the email list, and would like to be, you can sign up at any workday.)
If you can bring your sewing machine, don't forget bobbins and the power cord. A pair of sharp scissors and a seam ripper are helpful too. Do label them. If you'd like to do some cutting, you might want to bring your favorite (labeled) rotary cutter with a new blade.
Come anytime after 10:30, and stay as long as your schedule allows. There's a kitchen, fridge, and microwave at Our Sewing Room, and many great places nearby to eat out if you choose. On-street parking is 2-hour, so if you're planning to be with us longer, know that it's OK to park in the bank lot across the street.
Come anytime after 10:30, and stay as long as your schedule allows. There's a kitchen, fridge, and microwave at Our Sewing Room, and many great places nearby to eat out if you choose. On-street parking is 2-hour, so if you're planning to be with us longer, know that it's OK to park in the bank lot across the street.
IN TANZANIA
Here's an article from daysforgirls.org about how we're changing lives in Tanzania.
Once you follow that link and (I hope) read the article, note the list of other articles to the right. You might find lots of good reads.
In Oregon, we're lucky to have a relatively new nonprofit providing free tampons, pads and cups to homeless women in Lane, Linn and Benton Counties. They've also started sending supplies to a community in India. The volunteers at Rosie are university and high school students. Rosie's headquarters is upstairs at St.Vinnie's First Place by South Eugene High School. COLOR!!
Lynne's friend Annie has volunteered to dye our white and light-colored undies as a very generous contribution to Days for Girls. In March, she did an incredible job on hundreds! Great, gorgeous, vibrant colors! And that background flannel? It was a pretty red on white print--now a delightful stain-hiding red on red! Thank you to Lynne and Annie!
ROSIE CENTER
For homeless women, life is especially tough during their periods. This video gives a glimpse of that.
I've learned that menstrual supplies are much appreciated donations at local food banks serving low-income folks. You might keep that in mind for the next canned food drive. I also make deliveries to Food for Lane County when I have a boxful or two to donate--so feel free to bring boxes of tampons, etc., to a workday.
TRAVELING?
In the past, I've mentioned that we're always delighted to hear of somebody traveling out of the country, able to check a bag or two of DFG supplies. In the past month, people traveling to four countries have contacted me, and I've been in touch with DFG volunteers in South Africa and New Zealand who are delighted at the prospect of being able to access materials at our much lower prices, with no shipping expense. We've also got people going to Kenya and Peru in the summer, but I haven't set up those contacts yet. What typically happens is the local meets you at the airport or your hotel, and takes what you brought in one of our duffel bags. We hope you can then fold up the duffel and bring it back for the next batch to be taken abroad.
THE FIRST ASSEMBLY
The Makindu Children's Program notified me that they unexpectedly had someone leaving for Kenya, able to take a 50-pound duffel of the kits, on March 3rd--our regular workday and planned Makindu kit assembly day. So on March 1, my friends Kathy, Sandra and Noel and I assembled the first batch of kits which were winging their way to Kenya as we put together the rest on Saturday.
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| Each of the 250 bags we sent to Kenya is unique, so there's no chance of the girls mixing up something of such a personal nature. |
I've been told by a couple of people who have distributed our kits, that these are the nicest things the girls have ever had. And in many cases, the first new items. This is why I want each one to be as perfect and beautiful as we can possibly make it.
WHAT A WAY TO SPEND A BIRTHDAY!
It was a grand day! Glenda and I celebrated our March 3rd birthdays at our Days for Girls workday, eating chocolate cake from Sweet Life, and receiving lots of presents (and checks) for our DFG kits. Thank you all for making it such a fun and productive time!
We had fun party games too--some called them sewing, serging, pressing, pinning, cutting, folding and snapping. The afternoon party events included assembling a couple hundred kits going to the Makindu Children's Program in Kenya.
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| Thank you for your wonderful generosity! |
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| Some even came with a festive ribbon! |
NO PLASTIC BAGS IN KENYA
Last year Kenya's government banned plastic bags. Trash is a huge problem there, so this is a very good thing for them to be proactive about. However, it causes a dilemma for us, as we provide 2 freezer Ziploc bags in every kit, for the girls to carry their soiled supplies back home to wash. In February, less than 3 weeks before our kits were to be picked up to head to Kenya, Days for Girls finally announced what they'd come up with as a substitute for plastic bags in Kenya. We were to make little bags out of moisture-proof PUL as a replacement for the Ziplocs. We needed 250, fast!!
I took a deep breath, used some coupons to buy many yards of the heavier, colorful PUL, gathered a group of our sewers and we went to work. Five other Days for Girls chapters in Oregon and elsewhere also volunteered to make some and we got the 250 bags completed in time to pack the kits on March 1st and 3rd. I continue to be amazed and thankful for how everyone pitches in for our common goal. I didn't even ask for outside help--I just posted on our DFG leaders group that I was overwhelmed at our time crunch, and one person immediately posted, "We can do this! I'll help," and others chimed in. Incredible people--in our chapter and elsewhere!!
YES, OUR INCREDIBLE VOLUNTEERS
For those of you reading this blog, and never having been able to join us for a workday, it truly is an amazing, generous and fun assemblage of volunteers. To our volunteers, I feel so fortunate to have this opportunity to work with you and I really look forward to getting together each month. Thank you!!
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single minute before starting to improve the world.”
~ Anne Frank
