Our February 18 meeting dedicated to Days for Girls was the result of a wonderful collaboration with the North Richland Hills chapter of Days for Girls. We might not know how to sew or craft but we sure can pack things into kits! Sandra Hardin, the organizer for the North Rich-land Hills Days for Girls chapter, came to our meeting with enough sewn products to put together 50 Days for Girls kits. These items had been sewn by her team over the last 4 months. From our dedicated funds for the project we provided the washcloths, soap and panties to complete the kits. Elle Reese had been meeting with Sandra since September of 2019 in preparation for this event. They initially met so Sandra could show Elle what was involved in assembling a kit and they could decide how the Dallas club could best help. Elle then attended the November and January meetings of Sandra’s group to get some hands-on experience with what they do. It’s really a marvelous process. There are 4 sewn items:

• the bag that everything gets packed into
• the used liner holder
• the liners themselves
• the panty guard

Each item has a template for cutting, then they’re sewn or serged. The bags get ribbons threaded into the top to close them. The used liner holder is a special material to contain liquid and odor, while being completely washable and re-usable. The liners are made from flannel and PUL, a moisture barrier material. The panty guards are made of cotton with snaps to hold them in place. Assembling the kits involved a bit more than just putting items into the bags. Each kit gets 2 guards, 8 liners, 1 used liner holder, 1 bag, 2 pairs panties, 1 soap and 1 washcloth. One liner gets placed into each guard so the girls can see how the liners work. Then the remaining six liners are stacked with the guards into the used holder. The remaining items get placed into the bag with the guards/liners. We had to remove the plastic packaging from the soap as a lot of countries were these kits are sent have banned single use plastics. We did manage to assemble the full 50 kits. We sent Sandra home with enough washcloths, panties and soap to complete another 100 kits with her team. We also purchased some additional items that they use to create the kits including ribbon, blades for the fabric cutters, and glue (which is used to stick on the Days for Girls labels on the bags). The kits go where they are needed the most. Sandra shared with Elle last week that the day after we worked on these kits she met with someone who supports orphanages in Russia so it’s possible our kits will be sent to Russia. There is also a trip to Kenya planned this Spring. In addition to our local project we also pledged $315 to the District Nine project to help with shipping the kits completed at Conference, and Sandra provided an additional 50 liners for that project. We had a lot of fun doing this project and it was awesome that everyone at our meeting was able to participate. I’m really glad that Altrusa International chose Days for Girls, it’s a worthwhile project.