Days for Girls: Empowering women on global level

PINE PLAINS — In the United Methodist Church’s latest mission, members of the Pine Plains community have joined to advocate for the empowerment of women and girls around the world with Days for Girls.

Founded in 2008 by Celeste Morgan, the objective of Days for Girls is to provide sustainable feminine hygiene products to women and girls across the globe that will allocate lasting health education, hygiene solutions and income-generation opportunity. 

Along with empowering women with vital health conversations, the mission’s volunteers and participants are encouraged to create and sew washable feminine hygiene kits that can be distributed to different parts of the world. The Days for Girls kit design incorporates two moisture barrier shields, eight absorbent tri-fold pads, one washcloth, one travel-sized soap, two pairs of panties, one drawstring bag, two one-gallon size Ziploc freezer bags and one vital instruction sheet.

Today, Days for Girls has provided kits and health education to more than 640,000 women and girls in more than 100 countries, both through volunteer chapters and teams and through the mission’s enterprise model. Not only does the mission provide kits that will last a girl or woman two to three years, but its efforts translate into “over 115 million days of education and opportunity that would otherwise be lost without sustainable hygiene,” according to the Days for Girls website.

The idea of starting a Days for Girls group in Pine Plains began when Methodist churches in the area began looking for a mission that would involve everyone. Since that decision, member Lou Ann Mallozzi reported that a number of active participants are now involved.

The group currently meets every other Sunday afternoon from 1 to 3 p.m. in the basement of the United Methodist Church, located at 3023 Church St. The group has about 13 participants and is led by three team leaders, including Mallozzi, Gwen Higgins and Lisa Badore. If a member is unable to attend a meeting, Mallozzi said she provides him or her with kit supplies and patterns to cut out at home. The group is always in need of people who can sew and serge, she added, and there are no requirements for joining.

“We feel that part of our mission is to tell others about this,” Mallozzi explained when asked how she plans to spread the news about Days for Girls.

On the days when she volunteers to serve tea at the church, Mallozzi discusses Days for Girls with church visitors. From her home in Spackenkill, Higgins strives to reach out to other mission groups and has already caught the attention of both the mission group in Hyde Park and in Red Hook. 

Thus far, the group has successfully collaborated with a mission group to send 40 kits to Haiti. Currently the group has received standing requests for kits that will be sent to a women’s health clinic in Zimbabwe and to a location in Costa Rica. The group was also given the option of submitting the kits directly to Days for Girls.

“It’s a whole network and it’s wonderful to see,” Mallozzi said. “It’s also very well thought out. What we send in the kits should last for three years and part of the effort is to make it self-sustaining. Every kit that we make touches a young women somewhere in the world and allows her to go to school without any interruptions.”

Mallozzi added the operation helps its members to understand the circumstances of others around the world and to appreciate what resources are readily available to them.

“What we’re doing is giving women a sustainable way to fulfill a need,” she said, “and we see that it’s a global need. It’s not just one part of the world — we’re supplying these kits to girls on almost every continent.”

After hosting a successful spaghetti supper at the church, the Days for Girls group in Pine Plains is now looking to have a regularly scheduled dinner on Friday evenings to raise awareness about its efforts, and funds to purchase kit supplies.

For more information on Days for Girls, go to www.daysforgirls.org. For more information about upcoming work days for Days for Girls in Pine Plains, go to the United Methodist Church’s Facebook page or contact the church at 518-398-5521.