Happy Holidays, Everyone!

YOU ARE A FANTASTIC GROUP!

Little did I know in those wee-morning hours when I first read about Days for Girls what was in store for me.  Not only have we been able to provide life-changing kits for several hundred girls in Third World countries, but I've met the most wonderful and generous people.

This mission strikes a chord with so many of us, causing us to count our lucky stars, and do what we can to help others.  You, our local supporters, have been so incredibly generous with your time, supplies and monetary donations!  I so appreciate you all!  I look forward to seeing everyone who is able to join us on our monthly workdays (now the first Saturday of each month), and feel incredibly grateful that the idea of what we do attracts such caring people--those who help provide our kits and others working with foreign populations who distribute them in the various countries.  You are the best!  I'm so lucky to have met so many caring people and have you on this journey with me!!

(And of course, it doesn't hurt that we get to play with lovely fabric while doing all this!)

NEPAL TRAGEDY

This tragic note from Nepal.  Let's hope our work is preventing more incidents like this.

IN INDIA

How women are treated when they menstruate varies from country to country.  Here's an article about  the situation in India.

DONATIONS

I hope you all know that your donations to Days for Girls are tax deductible.  If you've made a monetary donation via Crowdrise, you received a receipt from them online.  If you've donated supplies and don't already have a receipt from me, please let me know at one of our workdays.  I bring them with me.

And if you'd like to make a donation before 2016 draws to a close, you can go to our Eugene Chapter page on the Thread of Hope online fundraiser.  Most of the year, headquarters keeps 10% of all donations to the teams and chapters for their overhead expenses.  But with these online fundraisers through Crowdrise, 100% of every donation comes to our chapter.  Headquarters has told me that this Thread of Hope fundraiser will continue at least "through the holidays."

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OUR DECEMBER WORK DAY

December 3 we held our last gathering of 2016.  The big event of the day was assembling 200 kits for girls in Kenya.  I had so much stuff to bring, I made two trips.  Friday night was a minivan-load of components for the 200 kits.  Saturday morning I hauled over all the supplies for the rest of the work we did that day.

First snaps had to be added to several dozen shields that needed that last step.  Then a few people preloaded the shields--one liner in one, 2 liners in the other.  The undies were boxed by size (10 & 12) and prefolded.  The washcloths had their tags removed and were also folded.  Then I set up the supplies and we started an assembly line.  It was fun and fast, and those 200 beautiful kits are ready to help keep girls in school.

Ellen, head of the Central Oregon Chapter, had a bunch (98!) of postpartum kits that needed a home.  I had asked Gwen if she thought they would like them at the clinics in the communities assisted by her nonprofit, Friends of Kenya Schools and Wildlife.  Yes!  Ellen happened to be in Springfield that Saturday and delivered them to us.  Gwen went home with a car solidly packed with 298 beautiful regular and postpartum kits!  And Ellen and I now have a bit more room in our homes. 

Assembling these colorful kits is always fun--it's great to see them all put together and know that they're going to be helping girls stay in school.  I'm always so impressed and proud of all the quality work our volunteers put into creating these kits.

Of course, that's not all we did that workday--there was lots of cutting, sewing, serging, pressing and so on.  

While we worked, the Springfield Christmas Parade was passing by in front of Our Sewing Room.

NEXT MEETINGS

Our next workday will be January 7th.  It looks like we'll be able to meet on the first Saturday of every month in 2017, except February.  February's workday will NOT be the first Saturday, as I've been invited to speak about Days for Girls at a regional Lions Club International convention in Corvallis.  Stay tuned to find out just when our February workday will be.  I'll put that information on this blog as soon as I know, and of course will send an email too.

HOLIDAYS

I hope you all enjoy your holiday celebrations!  I look forward to seeing everyone January 7th at Our Sewing Room.  I'll be ready to hand out tasks by 10:30 that morning.  We are usually packed up and gone between 4:30 and 5:00.

ALL THOSE SPECIAL DAYS (AND PEOPLE) IN NOVEMBER

BLACK FRIDAY

It's so convenient that JoAnn's starts their big Black Friday sale on Wednesday!  As mentioned in the previous post, this is the occasion with the best flannel prices of the year.  

Patty emailed some of her quilting friends, offering to endure the sale crowds for them, if they wanted to contribute some money to buy flannel.  Within a few hours, she had pledges of $180.  She hit the Eugene store when they opened at 6 Wednesday morning, and reduced their flannel inventory by over 100 yards.

I took my granddaughter to the Springfield store Wednesday around 5:00 pm, when I figured the crowds might be heading home for dinner, and we started pulling bolts that met DFG's fabric guidelines.  She was a great help in selecting, and loved handing the bolts to the clerk measuring for us.  We bought 59 yards.

Wendy wasn't able to get to a store, but let me know she'd be happy to contribute money too, so Friday, once I figured the crowds had thinned, I went back and found the last 3 bolts with designs that would work for liners.  We don't use solids much, but these mottled almost-solids should hide stains better.  Especially the one at the top!

The highlight of that trip was running into and catching up with my former mailman, who retired a couple of years ago.

And I've heard from some others of you who purchased flannel too--and have washed and dried it already! Sue was already started on making liners from hers when I spoke with her this weekend.

Let me know if you're interested in doing some of the washing, drying and pressing at home.  No huge rush--all this fabric will last us some time!  But if you let me know in advance, I can try to squeeze some in my car.

HOW DID THIS ALL GET STARTED?

I assume many of you have watched the videos on Days for Girls' website.  One of them is a TED talk by Celeste Mergens, Days for Girls founder, telling how she was inspired to form this life-changing organization.  On Sunday, somebody shared another one of Celeste speaking in Seattle about a year and a half ago.  Of course her statistics are out of date now.  Our network of teams and chapters has continued to grow rapidly.  A few weeks ago it was announced that we now had 750 teams and chapters (and new ones are added every week), which have distributed well over 400,000 kits!

GIVING TUESDAY AND THREAD OF HOPE

Veteran's Day (1938 as Armistice Day), Thanksgiving (1863), Black Friday (1960s), Small Business Saturday (2010), Cyber Monday (2005), Giving Tuesday (2012).  All these special days in November!  And when I worked in schools, parent-teacher conferences were always in the November mix too.  

The newest one, Giving Tuesday, is a nice way to take a break in focus from all the holiday shopping hoopla.  I usually think of it as monetary donations to nonprofits, but of course giving can be, in the case of Days for Girls, a pack of undies, spools of thread, etc., or your valuable time!  
Days for Girls typically takes 10% of monetary donations to our chapters and teams, for their overhead expenses, but occasionally there's an online fundraiser where we get to keep 100%.  They've just announced one for the holidays, Thread of Hope, just in time for Giving Tuesday donations.  This fundraiser is focused on our work helping refugees.
Here's the place to donate to Thread of Hope for our chapter, if you're interested in making a monetary donation.  You'll receive a receipt for tax purposes immediately and 100% of your donation stays with our chapter.  I've checked with our headquarters, and am told that Thread of Hope isn't just for Giving Tuesday, but will continue at least through the holiday season.  Perfect for folks who exchange charitable gifts for the holidays.  I do have the gift slips available if you'd like one to put in a card, telling the recipient that a gift to Days for Girls has been made in his or her name--just ask me.

November has really flown by for me.  Our next workday is the first Saturday in December, less than a week away.  We'll have some of our regular tasks to work on, plus we will assemble some of the kits going to Kenya in January with Friends of Kenya Schools and Wildlife (another great nonprofit to consider on Giving Tuesday).
Something a bit different this Saturday is that we're on the route of the 64th annual Springfield Christmas parade.  It starts at 1 pm on Mohawk Blvd. and will come down Main Street, right in front of Our Sewing Room.  I'd suggest that you get your parking spot at the bank (or another lot) early.

OFFER OF HELP

My goal for each distribution is to have every girl receive a bag made out of a different beautiful fabric.  Because the bags contain items of such a personal nature, I don't want mixing them up to be easy.  We make many bags of each fabric at one time, but hope to only need one of each for a particular community's distribution.  This past week I counted out 200 different bags.  Have you ever noticed how fascinated cats are when you're working on something on the bed?  My would-be assistant's name is Yobo.  Because some of the recipients might be sensitive to cats, I had to usher her out and close the door.

Hoping for a good turnout for the December 3rd workday, our last gathering of 2016.  I'll be set up at Our Sewing Room, ready to hand out tasks by 10:30.  We're packed up and departed by 5 p.m.  Please bring your basic sewing supplies (sharp scissors, rotary cutter, seam ripper, an empty bobbin or two, etc.), and your serger or machine if you'd like to use one.


See you Saturday!

HOLIDAY SALES

LOTS OF BEAUTIFUL FABRIC

Our chapter has been wonderfully blessed with extremely generous donations of beautiful cotton from the stashes of our quilting friends as well as from the estates of a few going into assisted living.  

I would have a hard time turning down fabric that is absolutely perfect for our kit needs, but I urge you not to spend any money on cotton  fabric for the bags and shields.  Donations of fabric from your stash continue to be welcome, but I'd suggest you save your purchasing dollars for other needs, at least for now.

Flannel is the fabric we mostly need to buy.  If you have flannel to donate or would like to buy some, please remember that we need busy, stain-hiding prints in medium to dark colors.  In earlier posts, I've shared a few photos of some that work very well.  And please remember that DFG has a list of additional fabric restrictions:  Avoid prints depicting weapons, people or animals with faces insects (butterflies are ok if they don't have faces showing), camouflage, religion, glam, holidays or anything culturally specific.  

FLANNEL SALE

I've heard from the leader of California chapter who has already gotten a flyer in her mail that JoAnn's will have their flannel on sale as a Doorbuster on Wednesday and Friday this week.  This is typically the time for the best prices of the year.  She says the flannel will be $1.79 and $2.09 per yard.   I assume one of the prices is for solids, which don't hide stains as well.  I don't buy those.

AMAZON WISH LIST FOR OUR CHAPTER

The leader of one of the other chapters came up with a great idea--especially at this time of year when many of us buy some things on Amazon.  She set up a wish list of items sold on Amazon that her chapter could use.  She pointed out that often we need to spend just a few more dollars to qualify for free shipping.

So, I made a list of some items that we would appreciate receiving, that might be enough to qualify your online order for free shipping.  If you're shopping on Amazon.com and need to spend a few more dollars,  our list is at https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/55EHSYDTQOS7/ref=cm_wl_huc_view.
When you follow that link, it should say "Days for Girls Eugene Wishlist."  Polyester threads and 1/2"--5/8" grosgrain ribbon are appreciated in any medium to dark colors--I just didn't list all the colors separately.

Those prices are not necessarily the best available, but could actually save you a few dollars, if you'd be spending that (or more) money on shipping otherwise.

JoAnn Fabrics continues to have great deals when you use their coupons.  

You may already know that you can go to Amazon Smile and set up a charity to receive donations when you make purchases.  Days for Girls International qualifies for that.  And you can do the same at Fred Meyer.

ANOTHER ARTICLE

It's a great time to get your period? More reading for you.

THIS JUST IN!

Ellen, director of the Central Oregon Chapter, just alerted me to the underwear sale at Target.  9+1 packs for $5.  That's as good as the back-to-school sale prices!  If you want to pick up some undies, remember we use only BRIEFS and in sizes 10, 14, and 16.  We have plenty of 12s.  Please try to avoid or limit the ones with animals on them.  And of course if you have a Target card, you can add that discount too.  Oh, and yesterday I got a $5. Target coupon in the mail--maybe you did too!

November Update

IN THE USA

Although most Days for Girls kits go to girls and women in developing nations, we are aware of many women struggling to afford feminine hygiene supplies in the US.  This is being addressed in a variety of ways, including kit distributions in some locations.  In Lane and Benton Counties, we are fortunate to have a recently formed nonprofit, Rosie Center, that provides supplies (of their choice) to women in shelters.  Rosie is completely run by volunteer college and high school students!  

You might also enjoy reading this article about what a college in Connecticut has done.  I've previously posted articles about similar programs.  I'm so pleased to see that this issue is being addressed, more and more!

OUR FIRST FIRST

November 5th was the first time for us to meet on the first Saturday of the month.  It seems to work better for almost everyone.  We had a great turnout, and accomplished quite a bit!  We actually ran out of non-sewing jobs to do while sitting down (although there's always fabric to iron)!  Many thanks to all the folks who joined us.  We have some friends and sisters who use our workdays as a good time to catch up with each other, while working. It feels good to accomplish so much--especially while enjoying ourselves.  Here are a few of the wonderful people who joined us this month, hard at work. 

If the first Saturday doesn't work for you, but you'd still like to help, let me know.  There are many tasks you can do at home too.

COMING OF AGE

Gwen has distributed our kits a few times to students in the communities served by her nonprofit, Friends of Kenya Schools and Wildlife.  In January she'll be bringing 200 more kits to the girls coming of age since the last distribution.  She recently asked for feedback from the girls who received the first batch a couple of years ago, and they said they appreciated the kits and still used them.  

POVERTY

Days for Girls International provided a link to this TED talk which I think many of you will find interesting.

GETTING THE LOWEST PRICES

Some things I never paid attention to before Days for Girls lured me in   . . . 

Girls' underwear prices are their lowest in late summer, during the back-to-school sales.  At Target and Walmart (and on their websites) we've been able to get briefs made by Hanes and Fruit of the Loom in 9-packs that not only had their prices sliced, but also included a bonus of 3 extra pairs.  The best prices there work out to about 50¢ a pair.  And if you have a Target card, you get an additional discount.

Discounts on flannel at JoAnn's are huge on Black Friday--and the lines are also epic.  Watch the ads--sometimes the sale is other days too.  I may try purchasing some online this year--it takes a while to scroll through to find the patterns that I prefer (and not all designs are available online), but probably not as long as standing in those lines.   Often there's no shipping charge if your total purchase is more than $100 or something.  In past years, Snuggle flannel prints that are regularly $6.99 could be purchased for about $2.00 a yard, with the lowered price plus a coupon.  At that price, we buy by the bolt!!  If you're interested in buying some flannel (and that's the kind of fabric we need the most of) to donate, remember to avoid any prints with light colors or depicting faces of any kind, weapons and camouflage.   Here are a few of my favorites--great stain-hiding colors in busy patterns.  

And of course, busy prints in thicker, more absorbent quilt shop-quality flannel are always received with delight.  

If you do make donations and would like a receipt for tax purposes, please let me know.

IN DECEMBER

Our next workday will be the first Saturday in December, the 3rd.
We're at Our Sewing Room all day--I'm usually unloaded and ready to hand out tasks by 10:30, and we pack up and leave by 5 pm.
Please join us if you can--bring basic sewing supplies, and your machine if you can sew or serge.  We really appreciate your help!

A BEAUTIFUL TRIBUTE

SUPPORTING DAYS FOR GIRLS

A huge thank you to our wonderful supporters--those who made contributions during the Revlon Challenge Fundraiser, those who give up many hours of their lives making all the components of our kits that change the lives of the recipients, those who think of us when shopping and bring us the briefs, washcloths, Ziplocs, and the quilters and sewers who share their beautiful fabric with us.  We certainly could not do it without you--you are all helping us keep girls in school and change lives!

In the Revlon Challenge, Days for Girls International, formed just 8 years ago, went head to head with some huge long-established international charities. With all of our grassroots support, we were able to hold our own, and ended up in 3rd place.  All great causes, so we can't feel TOO bad, and we did win $75,000 plus some bonuses.  First and second place, as you can see below, went to organizations fighting cancer.  All of these dollars make a difference.

Our little Eugene chapter really shone--with so many generous contributions, and supporters urging friends to contribute.

We received 34 individual donations during the Revlon Challenge.  The total included $210 donated at my DFG information booth at the Emerald Valley Quilters' show earlier this month and $1150 from the joint yard sale we held with the Springfield Lions in August.  We will do that again next summer, so do save items to contribute.  It all helps us help more girls and women.

In this fall fundraiser, all the teams, chapters and others fundraising for Days for Girls International are listed on the fundraiser website.  Mostly they are local teams and chapters, like us, fundraising for the supplies we need to make the kits.  A few are representing a country where they have DFG teams or chapters--Paraguay, Ghana, Uganda and the Philippines are ones I noticed.  But one that really tugged at my heart was listed as "For Maddy."  Sadly, this high school girl, a volunteer for Days for Girls for a couple of years, died October 4th.  Contributions to Days for Girls in her honor and memory totaled almost $9000. What a beautiful tribute!  

So this got me thinking.  I need to update my will, and will include Days for Girls Eugene in my nonprofit bequests, and instruct my family to request donations to our chapter in lieu of flowers.  And then there's my quilt fabric stash--lots of lovely darker fabrics there . . . .  We got a generous donation earlier this year from the family of a Portland-area quilter who was going into memory care.  They were delighted that her pretty fabric and related items would be helping to keep girls in school.

HOW SMALL?

A question I'm often asked is how small a piece of fabric is useful.  Our pockets are made out of (washed & dried) medium-dark stain-hiding quilter's cotton print fabric that's 5" x 4.5".  For those of us who are quilters, we often have leftover pieces that would make great pockets.  If I have longer pieces, I like to cut them in 5" strips (selvage to selvage is great).  Then I fold and press them in half so I have a folded strip that's 2.5" wide.  The next step is to topstitch 1/4" from the fold, using matching or coordinating thread--same color top and bobbin.  Last step is to cut them into 4.5" lengths.  Final product, ready to go in shields, measures 2.5" x 4.5".  This is a great use for those smaller pieces of fabric at home (that you can't bear to toss?).  And it's even more exciting and appreciated if you do the work and bring us the finished pockets!

Bigger pieces left over from a project or calling to you at the fabric store/quilt shop?
If you have leftovers of washed, good quality, stain-hiding flannel, we cut that in strips 5.75" and 8.75" wide.  Prints work better than solids to hide stains.

For the shields and bags, we use good quality quilters' weight cotton.

For the shields, busy medium to dark prints that will do a good job of hiding stains.  After washing, we cut this fabric in 50" lengths (by 42"-44" width) for the Accuquilt.  We need to darker prints because girls won't hang them in the sun (necessary to kill germs) if they show stains.

We use our most beautiful fabric for bags.  No large areas of white or light colors, as they might often be set on the dirt.  The bags are the public face of the kits.  The girls want something they're not embarrassed to carry, and will use these every day, not just during their periods.  We cut them 12" x 29", an inch bigger in both directions than the minimum.  This helps the Ziplocs slip in and out more easily (less wear and tear).

All fabric should be washed, dried and pressed before being cut.  

Fabric restrictions are discussed in earlier blogs.  The biggest ones people forget are: 1) no camouflage in any color, and 2) no animals or people showing a face.

THIS SATURDAY

We've now switched our workdays to the first Saturday of the month.  I arrive at 10 to set up, so it's good if you come after 10:30, and we're there until they close at 5:00.  We still meet at Our Sewing Room at 5th and Main in Springfield.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAYS FOR GIRLS--November 1!

It's amazing how many hundreds of thousands girls and women have been reached in just 8 years, thanks to our fantastic, amazing,  compassionate and dedicated volunteers on 6 continents!  

Every Girl.  Everywhere  Period.

First Saturday of each Month

As I mentioned last time, we are changing our meeting date.  We will no longer meet on Sundays.  Our new monthly date is the first Saturday of each month.  We'll still be at the same wonderful place, Our Sewing Room at 5th and Main in Springfield.  We are so fortunate that Mary Jo and Don let us meet there every month!  On occasion, there might be a conflict with something else scheduled for the facility.  In those cases, information will be sent to people on my DFG email list and posted here.  So, do check in!  Our next work day is November 5th.

We had a very productive workday last weekend.  As usual, my camera wasn't out enough, but here are shots of some of us hard at work.

April Haberman, director of the Days for Girls Chapter in Edmonds, Washington, shared this online blog interview, and is happy to have us share it.  You can too.  Click here to hear April talk about Days for Girls and the issues we are addressing.

Days for Girls International is still in the running to win the million dollars in the Revlon Challenge.  All money donated to teams and chapters counts in our nonprofit's quest to be the top money raiser in this competition amongst charities whose focus is women's health.  With three and a half days left to go, Days for Girls is in 2nd place, less than $40,000 behind the first place group.  I sincerely thank you if you've already donated to this fundraiser.  We've had wonderful, generous donations from many of you I know, as well as from friends of friends and supporters!  If you have been considering making a contribution to our Days for Girls Chapter,  this is the perfect time to do it.  100% of your contribution goes to our chapter (you can even skip the Crowdrise processing fee--just change it to zero) and every penny you give puts our charity that much closer to winning a million bucks!  Think of the impact that would have on the lives of so many girls!  If you donate they give you a link to share it on Facebook.  If you do that, please write something that might encourage your friends to donate too.

Use this link to donate to make sure both Days for Girls Eugene and our international group benefit. Consider donating in memory or honor of some special females in your life.  Ten dollars translates into a kit that will keep a girl in school for three years--wow!  How many kits can you support?

Let's end with a joyful photo from the Days for Girls Facebook page:

CHANGING OUR MEETING DAY

EVQ QUILT SHOW

I hope you had an opportunity to visit the Emerald Valley Quilters quilt show at the Fairgrounds this past weekend.  There were wonderful quilts, fun vendors, educational demos, a garment fashion show, and the always popular small quilt auction.  EVQ generously gave me space to set up an information booth for Days for Girls and I got to meet so many new interested (and interesting) people while telling about what we do.

I think we can expect some new folks to join us--which of course means we can help more girls receive an education.

Thank you to all of you who stopped by, shared stories, took things to work on, put your name on the email list, and generously donated to support giving girls back 60 days a year!  I put that cash--over $200--in our chapter account via the current Revlon Challenge fundraiser on Crowdrise.  Our international organization is hoping to be one of the top 5 fundraising non-profits to win the challenge money--$25,000 up to $1,000,000! DFGI is currently in 4th place.  If you haven't donated yet and want to make a tax-deductible contribution to our chapter, the challenge goes through October 26.  Our chapter receives all the money, but the donations count in DFGI's total for prize purposes.  Any money they win helps with setting up enterprises in the Third World.  More girls kept in school and participating in life every day!

One of our supporters emailed a few friends after making a donation, telling them that this was a great cause that she supported, and suggesting that they might like to make a contribution also.  Several did, and one made these comments I'd like to share with you: "This problem I learned about in 1993 when I did Hurricane Andrew relief in Homestead.  1/4 of all women under 50 are menstruating all the time.  It is as important as bread and water and clothing. Thanks for what you're doing."

250 KITS

As I mentioned in the last post, we've sent off 250 kits which will be part of a batch of 5000 going to refugees in Uganda.  I can't imagine the horror of being a refugee . . . a situation  made even worse by not having any way to deal with your period.  Patty generously packed her car with 250 kits and transported them to the team in Olympia, where the father of a headquarters employee picked them up and drove them the rest of the way to headquarters in Lynden, WA.  We have the underwear size marked on the Ziploc inside each kit, and then pack them in these trash bags, one size per bag.  This is what 250 kits look like.  Those bags are too slippery to want to stack!

IN SEPTEMBER

At our workdays, we typically each work on one facet of making a kit.  Pressing fabric, stitching casings on bags, serging flannel,  glue-basting labels, rotary cutting fabric, topstitching pockets, cutting out shields on the Accuquilt, etc.  I ask people to tell me when one task starts to get boring, so we can shift them to something else.  We got a lot done in September.

I love to have pictures of our wonderful volunteers on the workdays, and having the background be the quilts Mary Jo and Don display at Our Sewing Room make them extra special.  PLEASE remind me to take some shots every month!!

OCTOBER 16

October 16th is our next and final Sunday workday.  We will be at Our Sewing Room from 10 to 5, and are hoping for a good turnout.  This month we will be sharing space with the people making quilts for the NICU babies.

SUNDAYS

October will be the last month that we meet on a Sunday.  This is good news for those of you who find Sundays don't work well for you.  Stay tuned for an update on when we'll be gathering in November.  If you're not currently on our email list, you might want to sign up at the October 16 meeting.  I'll of course put the info on this blog too.

Thank you so much for making a difference in the lives of girls and women around the world.