(Almost) FALL 2018 NEWS

MEDICAL INSURANCE IN INDIA

Officials in India have announced that they will be providing medical insurance coverage to 500 million of its poorest citizens.  Read this Newsweek article for more information.

HOW KENYAN STREET WOMEN DEAL WITH PERIODS

Please watch this video.  Be sure you have the captioning turned on.

SEPTEMBER WORKDAY

We had a small but mighty group toiling away on the holiday weekend.  As usual, I didn't remember to take photos until several had left--here is about half of our September group.

  

TOILETS, WASH, SEXUAL RISKS AND MORE

This article from Columbia University should be of interest to our volunteers.  In addition, on the right of the article, there are links to pieces on related issues.

OVER A BILLION PEOPLE

Please read this article from the New York Times.  And thank you for all you do to improve lives of the most impoverished in our world.

SCHLEPPING AND STORING AND DELIGHT

Every time we have a workday, I spend hours packing and bringing supplies to Our Sewing Room, then doling them out to our volunteers, and later loading up my van and taking stuff home again, reorganizing it to schlep the next time.  It's my least favorite part of Days for Girls work.  Many of you know my dream has always been to get the towers of boxes and tubs out of my home and be able to store them where we use them.  I've long had my eye on the 2-room space at the northeast corner (facing 5th Street and the Simpsons mural) of the building that houses Our Sewing Room.  It's been rented to the same tenants for decades, and I let Mary Jo know a few years ago that I'd be interested if those tenants ever moved on.  To my absolute delight, that group have decided not to continue to rent the space.  It's ours!  We will have monthly rent and SUB bill to pay, and any ideas and contributions toward that would be greatly appreciated.

Once those rooms are empty, we'll have some cleaning and painting to do.  I'll send out a call for volunteers--let me know then if that's something that appeals to you.  I've already had two people tell me they love to paint!

NO OCTOBER WORKDAY BUT A BIRTHDAY PARTY IN NOVEMBER!!

Because of numerous conflicts, we will not have a workday in October.  But please do plan to join us to (work and) celebrate Days for Girls' 10th birthday on November 3rd.  Expect to indulge in some incredible cake from Sweet Life Patisserie.  And presents for our Chapter are encouraged!

Some ideas for DFG birthday 🎁 gifts are:

• polyester thread in medium/dark to dark colors (for sergers and sewing machines)
• washcloths in medium to dark colors (Target's Room Essentials brand is a great medium weight for us)
• cotton briefs in girls' sizes 10-16 and women's smaller sizes
• Financial contribution of any size--you certainly can designate where you'd like your donation to go (such as rent or supplies or shipping)
• Ziploc brand freezer-weight gallon bags
• Quilt-weight/quality cotton fabric, in appealing medium to darker prints.
• Flannel in busy darker, stain-hiding prints.  The best quality (thicker, more absorbent) you can afford.  No shirting flannel.
• Gift cards to Target or Walmart or JoAnn's.  Will spend them when there's a great sale.

Fabric restrictions apply to the flannel as well as the shield and bag fabrics and underwear.  Busy, irregular, darker prints are best. We avoid camouflage, faces or any animals with eyes, anything religious, patriotic or suggestive, insects, words and food.  Busy florals are great for hiding stains, solids aren't. There are regions that are ok with some of the restricted designs, and we can direct any donated items to them--but if you're out buying, please avoid them. 

With the packaged children's underwear, you always get a variety, and we have a generous volunteer who is happy to dye the too-lights, and we can use the taboo designs in distributions to less restrictive populations (such as Haiti, Puerto Rico, Latin America and some Asian areas) or swap with another nonprofit.  Solids are fine for undies.

FABRIC SALES

If you're in the market for some high quality fabric, two local quilt shops are having sales or celebrations this week:

Piece by Piece (13th between Olive and Willamette in Eugene) is celebrating their 10th anniversary with "some fantastic discounts."  And "Enjoy prizes, drawings, give-aways, Cookies, Cookies and of course the always fun staff!"  Through Sunday, September 16.

Pandora's Box in Cottage Grove is having a sale.  Their fabric is 30% off, Friday and Saturday, September 14 & 15.

EMERALD VALLEY QUILTERS' SHOW

I'll have an information table at the EVQ show at the Lane County Fairgrounds the first weekend in October.  I hope you have time to enjoy the show--there will be lots of fun quilts and tempting vendors.  Stop by to say hi if you're there!